Tennessee AG To Appeal Federal Rulings In 2 Mask Mandate Lawsuits
Photo Credit: tn.gov & public domain
The Center Square [By Jon Styf] –
Tennessee’s attorney general is appealing the recent decisions of two federal judges related to Gov. Bill Lee’s executive order allowing parents to opt out of school mask mandates.
Judges in Shelby, Knox and Williamson counties recently granted injunctions in lawsuits filed by parents of students with disabilities in each county. Attorney General Herbert Slatery’s appeals will be in the Shelby County and Knox County cases.
“These orders have impeded the Governor’s executive authority during an emergency to direct the State’s public health response, which is why this Office will be appealing those decisions,” Slatery’s office said Monday in a news release.
The rulings in the Knox and Williamson county cases came Friday, with the Williamson ruling to run through Oct. 5. The Knox and Shelby county injunctions will be in place until each case comes to its completion.
Knox County schools were cancelled Monday to allow staff to prepare to enforce the new mask rules after a rally against the ruling was held over the weekend.
“Really concerning to me that an anti-mask group just met saying they need to bring Knox County Schools to a halt (to applause) and asked folks to block entrances to schools with their cars – including not letting school buses in,” state Rep. Gloria Johnson, D-Knoxville, said on social media. “This is not a group that cares about kids.”
The parents who sued claim Lee’s executive order violated their students’ rights to protection under the Americans with Disabilities Act because the order does not provide proper protection for their students, who have chronic lung disease, a rare brain disorder and a congenital heart defect, as was argued in the Knox County case.
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“An appointed federal judge has come into our county, in which our duly elected body has already made a ruling twice related to any kind of mask mandate that we’re not doing it. We’re giving parents the ability to be parents and make the best decision for their children,” Rep. Jason Zachary, R-Knoxville, said in a video message he tweeted on the topic. “… This foolishness only stops when we make it stop. Government derives its power from the consent of the governed.”
Zachary then encouraged parents to send kids to Knox County schools without a mask.
“We have to make our stand and this is where we make our stand,” Zachary said.
Zachary said in a video posted Monday that, after reflection, Tuesday would be a tense day in Knox County.
“We have to bring a level of humility and grace,” Zachary said. “But again, also a firmness and a resoluteness knowing what the consequences will be but knowing, for many of us, this is a stand that needs to be taken.”
About the Author: Jon Styf, The Center Square Staff Reporter – Jon Styf is an award-winning editor and reporter who has worked in Illinois, Texas, Wisconsin, Florida and Michigan in local newsrooms over the past 20 years, working for Shaw Media, Hearst and several other companies. Follow Jon on Twitter @JonStyf.
Gloria Johnson represents the worst of the worst in government. I emailed her over the unapproved jab mandate that is ILLEGAL and she quoted a case that was a State fining a man over refusing a vaccine in 1905 for as precedence for mandatory vaccination. Here is her reply to me: It’s not disingenuous, we can argue what courts might do today and if it might be referenced-I am pretty sure it would. I have read the explanation you referenced below in your post—recently and in the past, but it doesn’t prove your point.
However, it’s agreed upon by most scholars President Biden, as the person in charge of Federal workers, can order vaccination for them. It hasn’t happened in modern history, but similar things have, in both GOP and Dem presidencies. For others, they have a choice of vaccine or masks and weekly testing-he is not requiring vaccines for those folks.
We just honored firefighters and police officers who rushed into buildings to save their neighbors lives, not thinking of their own safety. The absolute least I can do to keep my neighbors healthy and my country strong is wear a mask and get a vaccine.
As a Christian, I believe Jesus died on the cross for us, our soldiers have given the ultimate sacrifice for us, the least we can do is get a shot or mask up for the health of our families and our neighbors and to keep America strong. Christ tasks us to care for our neighbors and I am up for the task.
You likely have had multiple vaccinations in your life and have had an immunization record your entire life, what is the difference now? I’m genuinely curious.
TN hospitals are filled to breaking with unvaccinated patients, many dying. If the only person it hurt was the individual, then it would be your choice, but when you can infect others, especially the vulnerable, you have encroached on another’s freedoms. It’s the old “you can’t yell fire in a theatre” or “my right to swing my fists ends where your nose begins.”
I’m going to do my part to keep America strong, I will be a part of the solution and refuse to contribute to more deaths of my neighbors. We have lost over 660,000 Americans and about 14,000 are from TN. I can get a vaccine and wear a mask while needed, it’s the least I can do for my community, state, and country.
Rep. Johnson
I highly doubt Jesus would have encouraged people to inject foreign materials that are causing the deaths of many INCLUDING CHILDREN into the body that our Almighty Father gave us. How can this woman call herself a Christian while spouting this type of nonsense!
CINO, chrisitan in name only…
Plus, she is part of the ignorant deep state.
How does anyone really think a piece of diaper is going to stop a virus? Really?