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MIAMI (LifeSiteNews) – A federal judge this week handed Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis another legal victory on his mask mandate ban for schools.
On Wednesday, Judge K. Michael Moore of the Southern District of Florida denied a petition from a group of parents to block a recent order by DeSantis that effectively nullifies masking requirements imposed by school districts.
DeSantis’ executive order directed state agencies to develop COVID policies that would “protect parents’ right to make decisions regarding masking of their children in relation to COVID-19.” Days later, the Florida Department of Health (FDH) announced a rule instructing public schools to allow parents opt their children out of mask mandates.
Eleven parents of children with alleged health issues sued the DeSantis administration last month asking for a preliminary injunction against the governor’s order, which they said violates state and federal non-discrimination laws.
Judge Moore rejected that request in his decision on Wednesday, however, noting that the parents did not pursue administrative options with their children’s schools first, as is required under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA).
“Plaintiffs are required to exhaust their claims under the IDEA before proceeding in federal court,” Moore wrote. “Their failure to do so weighs heavily against finding that Plaintiffs’ claims are likely to succeed on the merits.”
The judge added that the DeSantis administration has “raised legitimate concerns with respect to Plaintiffs’ standing in this case.” He cited the fact that the plaintiffs did not name the Florida Department of Health in their lawsuit, making it “unclear whether the relief sought by Plaintiffs would actually provide redress to any of Plaintiffs’ alleged injuries.”
Moore also noted that some of the plaintiffs’ children have continued attending in-person classes with or without mask mandates. All of the children reportedly have access to virtual learning options, and “there has been no allegation that any of Plaintiffs’ schools have denied Plaintiffs educational opportunities altogether,” Moore wrote.
Judge Moore’s ruling allows the DeSantis administration to continue pursuing sanctions on thirteen Florida school districts that have rejected the FDH masking guidance. The Florida Department of Education has so far fined two of the districts, Alachua and Broward, docking salaries of school board members who approved the illegal mask mandates.
The latest court victory for Gov. DeSantis follows several lower court rulings in recent weeks on his executive order.
It's official: Joe Biden has announced that his Administration will be forcing COVID vaccinations on nearly 1/3rd of American citizens, blatantly disregarding the personal objections of millions of people and moving America ever closer towards a medical dictatorship.
We cannot stand for this unprecedented overreach, and we will not submit to Biden's tyrannical public coercion efforts.
Please SIGN this urgent petition informing the President that you will NOT comply with these unconstitutional vaccine mandate orders issued by the Biden Administration, and that elected officials should act in their capacity to block these intrusive demands.
On Thursday, September 9th, Joe Biden announced the latest round of federal orders meant to further coerce large swaths of the public into getting the COVID vaccine -- many against their will.
While the legal standing of these measures is, at best, dubious, the Biden Administration appears more ready than ever to gut our individual rights and practically erase medical autonomy in our country.
This latest escalation in overreach was announced via a televised speech in which Biden outlined a new "six-point plan" that includes far more than just six avenues to achieve mass medical compliance.
Among the most egregious new federal mandates are the following:
- A requirement that all private businesses employing more than 100 people mandate their workers get the Covid-19 vaccine or submit to weekly testing (to be implemented by way of a new Department of Labor rule)
- A requirement that all federal employees and federal contractors get the COVID vaccine
- A requirement that all healthcare workers in facilities that receive reimbursement from Medicare and/or Medicaid (an estimated 17 million) get the Covid-19 vaccine without an alternative testing option
- A requirement that all Head Start teachers get the COVID vaccine
- A federal effort to lobby states to implement vaccine mandates for all school employees, and require regular testing of all students and school staff
- A federal effort to lobby entertainment venues to require proof of vaccination or testing in order to grant entry to the public
- A continuation of mask mandates on all federal properties and during interstate travel (i.e. planes, trains, buses)
All in all, these new vaccine mandates, which will go into effect within the coming weeks, will affect an estimated 100 million American workers -- 2/3rds of the entire workforce!
And, according to an administration official, violations of these unconstitutional requirements could result in fines of up to $14,000.
While this is clearly a political ploy on the part of the Joe Biden and his team of power-hungry Washington insiders to shift the focus from their disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, the American public knows better: After nearly a year and a half's worth of arbitrary, ever-changing, and unconstitutional government mandates in response to the COVID outbreak, it was always a given that the Biden Administration would ramp things up even further when it behooved them.
And now, it would seem that time has officially come.
"This is not about freedom or personal choice," Biden uttered in his remarks, confirming his administration's blatant dismissal of all Americans' right(s) to accept or decline the experimental Covid-19 vaccine.
This is a stunning reversal from Biden's declaration last December that "I don’t think [the vaccine] should be mandatory, I wouldn’t demand it to be mandatory."
In fact, Biden even confirmed his intention to flout states' rights in the process, warning that "If these governors won’t help us beat the pandemic I’ll use my power as president to get them out of the way."
These are not the words of an "empathetic" leader; these are the words of an aspiring dictator. And, for the time being, the only way to stop Joe Biden's tyranny is through mass noncompliance.
As we've said from the beginning, science, basic logic, and common sense should dictate policy regarding COVID and the Delta variant.
But Joe Biden and the federal government have long abandoned those principles throughout this crisis, culminating into this disturbing yet inevitable flurry of intrusive vaccine mandates that use people's jobs, individual autonomy, and livelihood as leverage.
This assault on our individual rights, private businesses, and American workers cannot be tolerated, and the easiest way to combat these unlawful orders is to just say NO.
Please SIGN and SHARE this most important petition letting Joe Biden know that you will NOT comply with the unconstitutional medical demands being made by this administration, and that action should be taken to block any intrusive action against working Americans and private employers.
Thank you!
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
'Biden announces vaccine requirements for private businesses, impacting tens of millions of Americans': https://www.
A Florida circuit court judge ruled in favor of the eleven parents’ lawsuit last month, temporarily blocking enforcement of the order, though that decision was stayed after DeSantis appealed it on September 2. The same judge again paused DeSantis’ order a week later, before a state appeals court backed the governor’s appeal last Friday.
“Upon our review of the trial court’s final judgment and the operative pleadings, we have serious doubts about standing, jurisdiction, and other threshold matters,” read the decision handed down last week by the First District Court of Appeals. “These doubts significantly militate against the likelihood of the appellees’ ultimate success in this appeal.”
Hours later, the Biden administration also moved against Florida’s mask mandate ban, with the Department of Education (DOE) announcing a civil rights investigation into the policy. The agency had previously opened investigations into similar practices in five other Republican states, including Texas and South Carolina.
The DOE has additionally launched a grant program for school districts financially penalized by state governments due to COVID-19 measures, like mask mandates.
In his announcement last week of sweeping new federal vaccine mandates, Joe Biden vowed to use his “power as president” to push governors who block COVID restrictions “out of way.” “If these governors won’t help us beat the pandemic I’ll use my power as president to get them out of the way,” Biden said. “Right now, local school officials are trying to keep children safe in a pandemic while their governor picks a fight with them and even threatens their salaries or their jobs,” he added.
Children face extremely low risk of death or serious illness due to COVID-19 and have a 0.00-0.03 percent death rate from the virus, according to data published by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). Seven states have reported no child COVID fatalities at all, the AAP has reported.