Fayetteville Attorney Tom Mars announced Wednesday that he has sent a letter to Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, Senate President Pro Tempore Jimmy Hickey Jr. and Speaker of the House Matthew Shepherd outlining specific legal reasons to repeal or suspend Act 1002 of 2021 passed by the Arkansas General Assembly.
Act 1002 from Sen. Trent Garner, the Republican from El Dorado, prevents most public entities from enacting a mask mandate in Arkansas. Mars signaled his intent to file suit against the law if the legislature does not meet to repeal it.
The letter reads in part, “On behalf of all K-12 public school parents, I respectfully ask that you forget about policy and partisanship for the moment. If any of you feel strongly that Arkansas should have a ban on face masks in perpetuity, you can take up that debate when the pandemic is behind us. But now is not the time to worry about policy, ideology, politics or personal ambitions. Now is the time to exercise the outstanding leadership that each of you promised you would provide to the people who elected you.”
The letter outlines Mars’ intentions to file a lawsuit. To read the letter in its entirety, click here.
