The North Carolina State Senate has voted along party lines this week to ban wearing masks in public.
Seventy years ago some states passed anti-mask laws as a response to the Ku Klux Klan, whose members often hid their identities dressed in robes and hoods.
The North Carolina bill repeals an exception to the old anti-mask laws that was enacted during the early phase of the Covid-19 pandemic, which allows people to wear masks in public for “health and safety reasons.”
According to The Hill, Republican supporters of the ban said it would help law enforcement “crack down on pro-Palestine protesters who wear masks.” They accuse demonstrators of “abusing Covid-19 pandemic-era practices to hide their identities.”
To reinforce the deterrent, the proposed law states that if a person is arrested for protesting while masked, authorities would elevate the classification of the misdemeanor or felony by one level.
Democrats in North Carolina have raised concerns about the bill, particularly for the immunocompromised or those who may want to continue to wear masks during cancer treatments. And others have also chimed in, including Jerome Adams, former Surgeon General in the Trump Administration, who posted on Twitter that “it’s disturbing to think immunocompromised and cancer patients could be deemed criminals for following medical advice aimed at safeguarding their health.”
Additionally, there are folks who may have legitimate health reasons for wearing medical masks, including asthma sufferers, people exposed to wildfire and smoke or individuals who want to protect themselves, their families and others from pathogens like Covid-19 and influenza.
Indeed, for decades people across Asia have worn masks for a variety of reasons, as USA Today explained at the outset of the coronavirus epidemic. Japanese often wear masks when sick to curb transmission. Philippine motorcycle riders will put on face coverings to protect from exhaust fumes in heavy traffic. Similarly, citizens of Taiwan use masks to protect themselves from air pollution and airborne germs.
There are exemptions incorporated into the proposed ban, including for Halloween or specific types of work that require face coverings. There’s even an exception that specifically allows members of a “secret society or organization to wear masks or hoods in a parade or demonstration if they obtain a permit,” as WRAL in Raleigh, North Carolina reports.
Upon reading this, a Democratic State Senator in North Carolina, Sydney Batch, asked, “so this bill will protect the Ku Klux Klan to wear masks in public, but someone who’s immunocompromised like myself cannot wear a mask?”
It’s noteworthy that if a group like the KKK were to file for and obtain a permit to demonstrate, under the proposed law they could wear face coverings. And this isn’t a theoretical point. The KKK has a history of organizing rallies in North Carolina, like one they held in 2019. The question is, could pro-Palestinian demonstrators get a similar permit now and be allowed to wear masks or other face coverings? Presumably not.
The American Civil Liberties Union argues that the law is specifically being used to target those who wear face coverings while protesting the war in Gaza, which in the ACLU’s view amounts to “selective prosecution of a disfavored movement.”
There are other legal aspects that could also be invoked that pertain to the constitutionality of such a ban.
Remember when at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic wearing a mask was mandatory in public places in many jurisdictions as well as federal buildings and property and this provoked an outcry from people on the grounds of freedom of choice? Judges overturned certain mask mandates at both the federal and state levels and did so on constitutional grounds. By the same token, though in a kind of role reversal, it could now be argued that by banning masks people won’t be able to exercise their freedom of choice to protect themselves. It stands to reason that a constitutional law debate could ensue if the North Carolina ban goes into effect.
In the meantime, the bill now moves to the House for the next vote. From there it may head to Governor Roy Cooper’s desk. He’s a Democrat and will likely veto the legislation. But the North Carolina Republican Party has a supermajority and can override a possible veto.
