Refusing to wear masks isn’t conduct protected by the U.S. Constitution, a U.S. appeals court has ruled.
“Skeptics are free to—and did—voice their opposition through multiple means, but disobeying a masking requirement is not one of them,” Judge Ambro added. “One could not, for example, refuse to pay taxes to express the belief that ‘taxes are theft.’ Nor could one refuse to wear a motorcycle helmet as a symbolic protest against a state law requiring them.”
The ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit came in response to cases filed by New Jersey residents George Falcone and Gwyneth Murray-Nolan, who argued that their refusal to wear masks at school board meetings was protected under the First Amendment.
Mr. Falcone “was engaged in constitutionally protected activities, including his remaining unmasked,” before he was given a summons by police in 2022, one of the complaints stated.
Ms. Murray-Nolan showed up to a Cranford Township Board of Education meeting on Jan. 24, 2022, without a mask to protest the school board’s mask mandate. Many other attendees either refused to wear masks or took theirs off after officials went into private session in response to the unmasked attendees. When people still wouldn’t don masks, the board canceled the meeting.
