Can Governors Ban School Mask Mandates?

We the People

National Constitution Center

News, News Commentary, History

4.6 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 3 September 2021

⏱️ 60 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Legal battles over masks in schools are being fought across the country—in states including Arkansas, California, Florida, Kentucky, Michigan, Oklahoma, Nevada and Texas—and the U.S. Department of Education recently announced a civil rights investigation into mask mandate bans in several states. This week’s episode explores lawsuits brought against governors who took action to try to ban local mask mandates in schools, as well as challenges to state school mask mandates brought by people who say their individual rights were violated. We also address broader questions raised by this debate regarding the balance of power in America, and whether the Supreme Court might intervene. Host Jeffrey Rosen was joined by Charles C. W. Cooke, senior writer for National Review, and professor Jennifer Selin of the University of Missouri. Additional resources and transcript available in our Media Library at constitutioncenter.org/constitution. Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, and welcome to We
0:09.1	the People, a weekly show of constitutional debate.
0:12.6	The National Constitution Center is a nonpartisan nonprofit
0:16.3	chartered by Congress to increase awareness and understanding of the Constitution
0:21.2	among the American people.
0:23.2	As the new school year starts, legal battles over mask mandates
0:28.6	are being fought across the country.
0:31.8	This week, the U.S. Department of Education announced a civil rights investigation into bans on
0:36.3	mask mandates in several states and there are legal challenges pending across the country to mask mandates. I'm joined by two of
0:46.1	America's leading scholars of this question to explore the legal and
0:49.7	constitutional issues surrounding who has the power to enact or to ban mask mandates.
0:56.0	Charles C.W. Cook is a senior writer for National Review where he's covered the ongoing
1:01.0	controversies surrounding masking policies in schools.
1:04.6	He is the former editor of National Review online.
1:07.6	Charles, it is wonderful to have you on the show.
1:10.3	Thank you for having me.
1:11.8	And Dr. Jennifer Saline is Kinder Institute,
1:14.8	assistant professor of constitutional democracy
1:17.2	in the University of Missouri's Department of Political Science.
1:20.8	She has written several articles on this topic and Jennifer thank you so much for joining.
1:27.0	Thank you.
1:28.0	Charles let's begin by summing up the major legal and constitutional arguments against mask mandates in the states?
	...

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