FILE - Aiden Trabucco, right, wears a mask as he raises his hand to answer a question behind Anthony Gonzales during a summer STEM camp at Wylie High School in Wylie, Texas, on July 14, 2020. Texas Gov. Greg Abbotts executive order that forbids school districts from imposing mask mandates on schools to prevent the spread of COVID-19 was upheld Monday, July 25, 2022, by a divided federal appeals court panel in New Orleans.
“It is plainly within the State’s power to remove one possible accommodation from consideration, so long as other reasonable options remain,” Oldham wrote in the opinion issued Monday, rejecting arguments that the prohibition on mask mandates. Judge Don Willett concurred in the judgment.