Who should legally wear face masks, when and where?

Is this a legal or a political question?

Attorney General Alan Wilson has given his opinion that the University of South Carolina cannot constitutionally require students to wear masks.

Sens. Dick Harpootlian and Shane Massey who represent Irmo and Lexington in the Senate disagree.

Sen. Harpootlian wants the SC Supreme Court to grant an emergency hearing to determine if USC can impose a mask edict on students, faculty and staff.

The university had imposed a mask mandate then rescinded it based on the attorney general’s opinion.

Wilson told the Lexington County Chronicle that if the legislature’s intent was what Sen. Harpootlian says it was, “he’ll have no trouble getting his fellow lawmakers to pass something clarifying that. This is a political ques tion for the state legislature to address, not the Supreme Court.”

The wider question is if public or private schools of any kind can impose mask requirements on students or their teachers.

Gov. Henry McMaster, a former SC attorney general, said he believes school mask mandates are illegal.

Harpootlian said in his filing, “The simplicity of this dispute is underscored only by its gravity.

“The coronavirus pandemic is rising again, this time with a new, more contagious strain of the disease capable of breaking through otherwise highly efficacious vaccines and being spread by vaccinated and unvaccinated alike.”

According to Harpootlian, South Carolina responded to federal guidance “by enacting a universal masking policy for classes starting on August 19, 2021 — a measure that would keep everyone inside campus buildings safe by preventing transmission of the Delta variant.”

It is not yet known if the court will accept the case or rule on it.