Judge Smacks Down Ron DeSantis For Unconstitutional Ban On Mask Mandates

On Friday, a Circuit judge in Florida ruled that governor Ron DeSantis's ban on mask mandates was unconstitutional, allowing (pending appeal) for school districts to implement mandates without fear of reprisal. The judge pointed to a recent law - signed by DeSantis - that allows local governments to enact their own safety measures when public health is at stake. But that's just the tip of the iceberg, and Farron Cousins discusses the ruling.

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*This transcript was auto-generated. Please excuse any typos.

On Friday, a circuit judge from Leon county here in the state of Florida, ruled that our Trump loving Republican governor, Ron DeSantis does not in fact have the constitutional authority to ban mask mandates in the state. This is a huge, huge ruling, a very important ruling, especially considering the fact that we up to the point of that ruling had had 10 school districts that had already said, we don't care what you say, Ron, we're going to go ahead with mass mandates. And two of them, uh, the administration here had said, we're going to go ahead and punish you. And now they can't do that. If his mask mandate ban is unconstitutional, I have to read

What the judge said here, cause this is wonderful.

Um, he, he said, you know, uh, while the governor, and this is not a direct quote, this is paraphrasing while the governor and others have argued that a new Florida law gives parents the ultimate authority to oversee health issues for their children. It also exempts government actions that are needed to protect public health and are reasonable and limited in scope. He said the school district's decision to require student masking to prevent the spread of the virus falls within that exemption. Oh, and by the way, you know where that exemption came from, it was written into a law that to say it is himself signed, ah, foiled again by your own actions. But Hey, this in this case, right? It's a good thing. So you do not have the Thor authority to tell these cities, school districts, whatever it is, local governments, what they can do, because they actually have the authority to impose

Safety measures per your own piece of legislation. But the judge goes further here. It is this from the AP, along with what I had just read,

The judge also noted that two Florida Supreme court decisions from 1914 and 1939, found that individual rights are limited by their impact on the rights of others. For example, he said, adults have the right to drink alcohol, but not to drink and drive. There is a right to free speech, but not to harass or threaten others or

Yell fire in a crowded theater. He said,

We, uh, this direct quote, we don't have the right because exercising the right in that way is harmful or potentially harmful to other people. The law is full of examples of rights that are limited when the good of others would be adversely affected by

Those rights.

And that ladies and gentlemen is kind of the heart of all of these arguments that we're hearing. You know, these people who say I've got my freedom to not wear a mask. I got my freedom to not get vaccinated cool. But your freedom is actually infringing upon the right to life of other people. And as this judge correctly pointed out, courts have ruled time and time and time again, that your rights

End when they infringe upon the life of someone else,

You can, you can't do that. You can't intentionally put somebody else in harm's way, just by yelling. I've got free. And hopefully this is not appealed. Hopefully Ron DeSantis cuts his losses and understands that he is killing his state. Right now, it's so bad that we have hospitals that are running out of oxygen. Some Florida residents being told, stop consuming as much water because we have to pull oxygen out of the water to fill the tanks, to send to the hospital, to give to the COVID patient who are dying.

That's what's happening here in Florida. The pandemic is

Literally by the numbers worse than ever right now in Florida. And let's also not forget Ron DeSantis had told us a couple months ago, oh, it's so bad in Florida because the tourist numbers it'll go down in August.

He said, literally still climbing. So,

You know, so much for him being a great prognosticator there, but the truth is this ban on mask mandates by Ron DeSantis was done for political

Reasons. And I am glad and thankful that this judge struck it down. And

Hopefully if DeSantis does

Appeal, other judges will have the same good sense to strike it down yet. Again,