A incapacity rights group has sued to dam the Nassau County, New York, masks ban that prohibits face coverings in public aside from well being and spiritual causes, with the lawsuit arguing the ban is unconstitutional and discriminates towards folks with disabilities.
The Incapacity Rights of New York filed a federal class motion lawsuit Thursday on behalf of individuals with disabilities, searching for a brief restraining order and preliminary injunction to right away cease enforcement of the county’s Masks Transparency Act, in response to The Related Press.
The Republican-controlled Nassau County Legislature handed the invoice on Aug. 5, and it was signed into regulation on Aug. 14.
“This masks ban poses a direct risk to public well being and discriminates towards folks with disabilities,” the incapacity rights group’s govt director Timothy A. Clune mentioned in a press release.
NASSAU COUNTY BANS MASKS IN PUBLIC TO CURB VIOLENT CRIME, PROTESTS
The lawsuit lists two plaintiffs with varied well being situations and who put on medical-grade face masks to guard themselves. The plaintiffs say they’re now frightened of harassment and potential arrest as a result of new masks ban.
“Whereas in private and non-private locations, strangers have come as much as G.B. since August 5, 2024, to ask them if they’re sick, if they’re wholesome or not, and to ask why they’re carrying a facemask,” in response to the lawsuit, referring to one of many plaintiffs by their initials.
The lawsuit mentioned G.B. has been recognized with cerebral palsy and bronchial asthma and desires a wheelchair to maneuver round.
“G.B. fears that they are going to be arrested only for carrying a facemask for his or her well being as a result of there isn’t any normal for the police to comply with to resolve in the event that they meet the well being exception or not,” the lawsuit mentioned. “G.B. can be involved that they are going to be harassed, discriminated towards, and even assaulted by folks, together with enterprise homeowners and workers, in Nassau County for simply going about their day with a masks on.”
Republican Nassau County Government Bruce Blakeman, who signed the invoice into regulation, mentioned county officers are “assured that the regulation shall be upheld as there’s a presumption of constitutionality when the legislature acts, and this laws is affordable and accountable.”
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Legislator Howard Kopel mentioned lawmakers sought to approve the ban in response to “antisemitic incidents, typically perpetrated by these in masks” amid anti-Israel demonstrations seen on school campuses within the aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault towards Israel that began the continuing struggle in Gaza.
The regulation makes it a misdemeanor punishable by as much as a yr in jail and a $1,000 positive for anybody in Nassau County to put on a face masking to cover their identification in public, with exemptions for individuals who put on masks “for well being, security, non secular or cultural functions, or for the peaceable celebration of a vacation or related non secular or cultural occasion for which masks or facial coverings are usually worn.”
Blakeman has mentioned protesters carrying masks have been the rationale for the ban, however that the brand new regulation can be a solution to fight on a regular basis crime.
“It is a broad public security measure,” Blakeman mentioned at a information convention. “What we’ve seen is folks utilizing masks to shoplift, to carjack, to rob banks, and that is exercise we need to cease.”
The Related Press contributed to this report.
