D.C. Families Seek Mask Mandate Exception for Catholic Schools

On March 1, the Washington, D.C., city government lifted its mask mandate for most indoor settings, such as stores, bars, restaurants, and entertainment venues. But schools have been left behind — including D.C. schools in the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, which no longer requires masking in schools. To fight this disparity, attorneys with the Alliance Defending Freedom, an organization that litigates on behalf of religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and other issues, have filed a formal legal complaint in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia on behalf of two families with children who attend school in D.C., requesting an exception for students at D.C. Catholic schools from a mandate the complaint calls “arbitrary, unscientific, and irrational.”

“This Court previously stopped Defendant Mayor Muriel Bowser from unconstitutionally burdening religious exercises through her invocation of emergency powers,” the complaint states, in reference to a previous successful challenge against capacity limits for indoor worship. “The same judicial intervention under the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (‘RFRA’) is yet again needed to stop Defendants Mayor Bowser, the District of Columbia, Director LaQuandra Nesbitt, and the D.C. Department of Health (collectively, ‘Defendants’) from substantially burdening and unequally treating the plaintiff-parents’ religious exercise of sending their children to a Catholic school in the District in comparison to the litany of comparable secular and other religious activities.”

About the Author

Jack Butler

Jack Butler is a former submissions editor at National Review.

Featured Tags

On March 1, the Washington, D.C., city government lifted its mask mandate for most indoor settings, such as stores, bars, restaurants, and entertainment venues. But schools have been left behind — including D.C. schools in the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, which no longer requires masking in schools. To fight this disparity, attorneys with the Alliance Defending Freedom, an organization that litigates on behalf of religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and other issues, have filed a formal legal complaint in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia on behalf of two families with children who attend school in D.C., requesting an exception for students at D.C. Catholic schools from a mandate the complaint calls “arbitrary, unscientific, and irrational.”

“This Court previously stopped Defendant Mayor Muriel Bowser from unconstitutionally burdening religious exercises through her invocation of emergency powers,” the complaint states, in reference to a previous successful challenge against capacity limits for indoor worship. “The same judicial intervention under the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (‘RFRA’) is yet again needed to stop Defendants Mayor Bowser, the District of Columbia, Director LaQuandra Nesbitt, and the D.C. Department of Health (collectively, ‘Defendants’) from substantially burdening and unequally treating the plaintiff-parents’ religious exercise of sending their children to a Catholic school in the District in comparison to the litany of comparable secular and other religious activities.”