Case updates this week:

Monday February 5th: The Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on a lower court’s order dismissing two First Amendment cases related to a New Jersey COVID-era mask mandate in Falcone v. Dickstein. The case consolidated two separate challenges, both involving parents who faced legal repercussions after refusing to wear masks while attending local school board meetings. Each parent claimed they refused to wear a mask in protest of their school district’s mask mandate. Plaintiff, Murray-Nolan, was arrested at a school board meeting after being warned multiple times of the consequences of not wearing a mask. Plaintiff, Falcone, was one of many maskless people in attendance at his school board meeting, but the only one was issued a summons. The court reversed the lower court’s finding that Falcone did not have standing. The Circuit court explained that the issue of standing should not be influenced by the merits, or lack thereof, of the underlying claims. The court remanded, and directed the district court to proceed on the defendants’ motion to dismiss Falcone’s complaint. The court made clear that refusing to wear a mask when a valid health order is in place is not a protected exercise of First Amendment rights.

Tuesday February 6th: The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of a challenge to an Ohio school district’s mask mandate during the COVID-19 pandemic. In Maras v. Mayfield City School District Board of Education the plaintiff filed suit pro se on behalf of her (at the time) minor daughter, alleging that the school district’s adoption of a mask mandate violated her due process rights under both federal and state law. However, the court dismissed the case as moot for two reasons: the mask mandate has been lifted, and the plaintiff’s daughter has since graduated high school. Therefore, the controversy at issue is no longer ongoing, and the lower court was correct to dismiss the case.