Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt has begun to file several lawsuits against St. Louis area school districts with mask mandates, including Affton, Brentwood, Clayton, Fort Zumwalt, Fox, Francis Howell, Hazelwood, Ladue, Parkway, Pattonville, Maplewood Richmond Heights, St. Charles, St. Louis Public Schools, and Webster Groves.

CHGO attorney Cindy Ormsby, who represents multiple school districts, had this to say, “I don’t see how he is going to be successful.”

In a letter sent on behalf of the Hazelwood School District to Schmitt, Ormsby wrote that he had no authority to issue a “cease and desist” letter. She cited state statutes and a 1909 Missouri Supreme Court decision that said school boards had the right to pass rules, such as a mask mandate, to address the possibility of a smallpox epidemic.

Schmitt believes that there is no empirical basis for the use of masks to prevent transmission of viruses, but there are countless studies that say otherwise and local, state, and federal medical authorities have recommended masks as a method to slow the spread of the pandemic.

Read more on STLToday.com.