CT Freedom Alliance, LLC v. Dept. of Education

Citations

• 346 Conn. 1

Syllabus

The plaintiffs sought relief in connection with a mandate issued by the defendants, the governor of the state of Connecticut, the Department of Education, and the education commissioner, that required children to wear face masks in school during the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to the pandemic, the governor declared a public health and civil pre- paredness emergency in March, 2020, and, pursuant to statute (§§ 19a- 131a and 28-9), thereafter issued certain executive orders to protect public health and safety, including an order cancelling all in-person public school classes for the remainder of the school year. The depart- ment later issued guidance to school districts on how to safely reopen schools the following school year, which directed school districts to adopt policies requiring that students and staff wear masks or other forms of face coverings when at school. The governor then issued an executive order authorizing the commissioner to issue ''binding guid- ance'' for the operation of schools, deemed necessary to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. That order, which was extended several times, applied retroactively and provided that the commissioner's binding guid- ance, including the previously issued guidance regarding face masks, was not a regulation for purposes of the Uniform Administrative Proce- dure Act (UAPA) (§ 4-166 et seq.). The defendants thus were permitted to issue and enforce the binding guidance without first providing notice to the public and an opportunity to be heard. The plaintiffs challenged the legality of the mask mandate and sought declaratory and injunctive 1 2 JANUARY, 2023 346 Conn. 1 CT Freedom Alliance, LLC v. Dept. of Education relief, claiming, inter alia, that the mandate was improperly issued and extended, and that it violated the rights of schoolchildren to a free public education under article eighth of the Connecticut constitution. The trial court granted the defendants' motion for summary judgment and rendered judgment th