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The South Carolina Supreme Court has upheld the state’s ban on mask mandates in a ruling that struck down Columbia’s mask mandate.
CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC/WIS-TV) - The South Carolina Supreme Court has upheld the state’s ban on mask mandates in a ruling that struck down Columbia’s mask mandate.
“The notion that City employees would infiltrate the schools and, without any assistance from school personnel and without a penny of state funds, would be able to mandate masks...is demonstrably false,” the court said in its opinion.
The justices for the court heard this case Tuesday.
“Due to the direct conflict between Proviso 1.108 and the City ordinances that is created by the ordinances’ enforcement provisions, the Court finds the City’s ordinances are necessarily preempted by Proviso 1.108,” according to the court ruling.
Proviso 1.108 was an item in the state budget that went into effect in July. This threatened school districts with losing state money if they required masks.
In a point about a larger argument made in this debate, the Court says, “This brings us to the real point of contention — may the City enact ordinances in direct conflict with state law? The answer is unsurprisingly and unequivocally ‘no.’”
“We appreciate the Supreme Court’s quick ruling and its confirmation of our legal arguments,” said Attorney General Alan Wilson. “The Court emphasized what we’ve been saying all along, that we are not arguing mask policy, we are arguing the rule of law. The Court has confirmed that a city ordinance cannot conflict with state law.”
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