Hartford judge deals setback for parents seeking to overturn school mask rule but case will continue

The seven-month long lawsuit concerning the constitutionality of Connecticut’s requirement students wear masks in school to slow the spread of coronavirus will continue after the Hartford judge presiding over the case denied a summary judgment Monday.

The Connecticut Freedom Alliance first filed the lawsuit in late August after former state education commissioner, and now newly appointed U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, ordered a school mask mandate in the state.

After losing an injunction in November and awaiting an appeal, the group asked Superior Court Judge Thomas Moukawsher for a decision in their favor without a full trial, to which he declined.

“No doubt COVID-19 is a disadvantage for school children,” Moukawsher wrote in his ruling. “But, the risk of sickness and death to them — slight though it may be — and the risk of sickness and death to those around them — significant as it may be — is also a disadvantage.”

The CT Freedom Alliance argues that wearing masks is not only dangerous to a child’s health but that “children are constitutionally entitled to a physical learning experience under the Connecticut Constitution,” the November injunction filing said.

The 36-page ruling responded to these concerns, drawing that there was “no reasonable fact finder on this record that could see the mask wearing mandate as irrational,” Moukawasher wrote.

“It declares from this a false consensus that masks are useless against COVID-19 and actually spread disease,” he said.

The case will remain ongoing as the mask mandate stays in place.

The group will be filing another appeal, lead plaintiff and attorney for the Freedom Alliance, Norm Parris said.

Jessika Harkay can be reached at jharkay@courant.com.