Virginia Gov. joins Parent’s Lawsuit against Loudoun Schools over Masks

Virginia’s governor, attorney general, and superintendent of public instruction have asked a court to let them become plaintiffs in a lawsuit brought by parents against the Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS), lending new legal firepower to a group of parents’ quest to unmask their children.

After taking office last month, Gov. Glenn Youngkin issued an executive order saying that parents had the right to choose whether their children must wear masks at school or not. Liberal jurisdictions refused to follow it, claiming they did not have to follow executive orders.

The lawsuit includes an appendix with seven executive orders from previous Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam, including one that made masks mandatory in schools. No school district defied those orders, and far from claiming at the time that executive orders were optional for school systems, school officials routinely invoked them as a reason that their hands were tied.

Attorney General Jason Miyares said in a statement that “When the pandemic started, Governor Northam used his emergency powers to close down places of worship, private businesses, and schools and impose a universal mask mandate. Nearly two years later, Governor Youngkin is using those same emergency powers to adapt to our current phase in the same pandemic, by giving parents the ability to opt out of a school mask mandate.”

The suit from parents cites The Daily Wire’s reporting four times to show how schools are taking punitive action against students who invoke their right to unmask under the EO, and the Virginia officials’ motion to join the suit, known as a request to “intervene,” also cites it.

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