At this stage, Shelby County Government is in full rebellion against Governor Bill Lee’s hands-off approach toward the latest Covid-19 upsurge, a fact reflected in a new suit filed by the county in federal district court.
The suit, filed Thursday jointly by the Shelby County Attorney’s office and by the firm of Burch, Porter, and Johnson, maintains that Lee’s recent executive order allowing parental opt-outs of any mask mandates imposed by school or governmental authority is in violation of the Due Process clause of the 14th Amendment, of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021, and of the authority of the county Health Department, which has imposed a mask mandate under the aegis of its authority and that of ARPA.
The county’s suit seeks injunctive relief and a declaratory judgment against the Governor’s executive order. The suit cites prior statements from Lee himself affirming the value of wearing a mask as an effective prophylactic against infection by Covid and says his order makes “maintenance and order of a system of public schools impossible.”
Since Lee’s imposition of the parental opt-out order, both the administrative and legislative branches of Shelby County government have taken steps to express their opposition. Dr Michelle Taylor, Mayor Lee Harris’ newly named Health Department director, has imposed a 30-day mask order, which the Commission has affirmed by majority vote, and numerous school districts have responded likewise.
Increasingly, citizen testimony before the Commission and other school and governmental units has tilted heavily in favor of strengthening both mask edicts and stepped-up vaccination efforts as antidotes to the spread of the Delta variant of Covid-19.
