Florida court overturns ruling involving county mask mandate

Florida's First District Court of Appeal on Friday issued a 2-1 ruling overturning a lower court's 2020 decision to deny an injunction to halt Alachua County's mask mandate.

Judge A.S. Tanenbaum wrote that "we reverse the trial court's denial of the temporary injunction. We remand for a new proceeding that presumes the unconstitutionality of the mask mandate, in the event there still is some mask mandate that remains to be litigated." 

"To be clear, we are not saying that the mask mandate in fact was unconstitutional," a footnote explains. "If, however, [plaintiff Justin] Green persists in his challenge to some new mask mandate that the county adopts, the trial court would have to start its analysis with this presumption of unconstitutionality."

Tanenbaum was joined by Judge Robert Long who concurred with the majority opinion, while Judge Joseph Lewis dissented.

"The effect of the majority's disposition could lead to the trial court's constitutional analysis of a non-existent order," Lewis wrote. "The trial court could not grant Appellant's requested relief of an injunction enjoining the County from enforcing the mask mandate contained in its emergency order because that order is no longer in effect, and so there is no enforcement to be enjoined."

Eighth Circuit Judge Donna Keim "used a rational basis and determined that privacy was not impacted by the county's masking mandate," Alachua County spokesperson Mark Sexton said, according to the Gainesville Sun. "This reversal suggests the constitution is impacted and that on the mandate, we would be held to a high standard. Had the mandate still been in place we would have to prove to the court that there was a compelling government interest. We feel like we could have done that."