Pa. Supreme Court overturns state mask mandate for K-12

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court threw out the state-wide mask mandate on Friday for K-12 schools issued by Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration.

The justices upheld a lower-court ruling that Acting Secretary of Health Alison Beam overstepped her authority when she issued a sweeping mandate that required masking indoors at all of the state’s K-12 schools and child care facilities.

On Nov. 10, the Commonwealth Court found Pennsylvania’s disease control laws do not give health secretaries "the blanket authority to create new rules and regulations out of whole cloth, provided they are related in some way to the control of disease or can otherwise be characterized as disease control measures."

The justices announced the decision, with a written opinion coming at a later date.

Republicans in the state legislature praised the decision, which they framed as a check on executive overreach.

“We join the voices of millions of Pennsylvanians who are pleased to see our Commonwealth’s highest court agree that no unelected government bureaucrat should ever have the sole and unilateral authority to issue open-ended ‘orders’ — whether they focus on public health response or something else,” said House Speaker Bryan Cutler and House Majority Leader Rep. Kerry Benninghoff in a statement.

The decision comes two days after the Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the case, where some justices expressed skepticism at the administration’s argument that masking as a form of “modified quarantine” is allowed under state law.

The lawsuit was filed by Pennsylvania state Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman; state Rep. Jesse Topper; two religious schools; three public school districts and several parents of schoolchildren.

The decision does not necessarily end masking in schools, as it leaves the decision to individual school districts. Philadelphia, the state’s largest school district, says it will continue to require masks.