ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. – A St. Louis County judge delays any action on a request from Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt on the controversial St. Louis County mask mandate.
Lawyers from Schmitt’s office and St. Louis County met virtually this morning in a brief hearing before Judge Ellen Ribaudo.
Schmitt accuses St. Louis County officials of not turning over what he believes to be required information by law regarding how the decision was made to issue the latest mask mandate.
St. Louis County Executive Dr. Sam Page announced that mandate on September 27th and says it is in effect now.
Attorney General Schmitt wanted Judge Ribaudo to force St. Louis County officials to turn over the information that Schmitt believes his office is entitled to.
But an attorney for St. Louis County argued that the Attorney General’s office has not filed any documents objecting to the newest mask mandate so any request for additional information is premature.
A lawyer for Schmitt’s office argued that even though they have not yet filed objections to the new mask mandate they should still be able to get the information they want because they believe it’s basically the same information that county used for the July 26th mask mandate.
Judge Ribaudo sided with St. Louis County saying the Attorney General’s office has to file its new pleadings by October 25th.
Another hearing is set for November 10th.
A spokesperson for Attorney General Schmitt says they do plan to file documents challenging the validity of the new mask mandate.
In his regular COVID briefing this morning, County Executive Page said that masks work to slow the spread of COVID and that they remain necessary until more people in St. Louis County are vaccinated.