I do not think that right is absolute, and I think it depends on the situation and what the basis and the reason for the ruling is,” Ross said. “Does an individual have the ability to make a decision on their own about what they wear around their head and face without government interference?” Long asked. Judge Robert Long, however, questioned Ross about a privacy right in the Florida Constitution. It’s another thing during the pandemic to say, ‘Well, I have to wear a mask now, so therefore I’m going to be mistaken for a criminal.’” I mean, it’s one thing to wear a mask into a convenience store to commit a robbery pre-pandemic. It remains unclear when the three-judge panel of the appeals court will rule in the Alachua County case.īut during Monday’s hearing, two of the judges, Scott Makar and Joseph Lewis, asked questions that, at times, sounded skeptical of the plaintiff’s arguments.Īt one point, for example, Childers said the mask requirement is “rooted in an awful historical legacy,” with masks being a symbol of such things as intimidation and violence.īut Makar quickly interjected, “Those situations didn’t involve a pandemic. As an example, challenges to mask requirements in Leon and Gadsden counties went to the 1st District Court of Appeal after the lawsuits were rejected by circuit judges. Green, who operates a nursery business, and Childers took the case to the Tallahassee-based appeals court after Alachua County Circuit Judge Donna Keim in May refused to grant a temporary injunction to block the order, which requires people at businesses such as grocery stores and restaurants to wear face masks.Īlong with continued political debates about wearing face masks during the pandemic, mask requirements passed by local governments in several parts of the state have drawn legal challenges. … The courts are not in a position to make those determinations on a day-to-day basis the way the elected representatives of the people are.” “We clearly have a medical emergency, which is fraught with scientific and medical uncertainty,” Ross said. “You cannot prioritize one of those over the others without throwing the entire system out of whack.”īut Jack Ross, an attorney for the county, said a key issue in the case is whether “the federal and/or the state Constitution prohibits the citizens of Alachua County, through their elected representatives, from adopting reasonable regulations to restrict the spread of a deadly disease.” “The (nation’s) founders would say that life without liberty is not worth living, and life without being able to pursue happiness isn’t worth living,” Childers said.