The US District Court for Wyoming must revisit a lawsuit brought by former Laramie High School student Grace Smith, who was arrested in 2021 for defying the school’s mask mandate, following a decision by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.
On Tuesday, the Denver-based appeals panel ruled that the previous dismissal of the case lacked proper consideration of Smith’s claims, sending it back to the lower court for further review.
Grace Smith, then a junior, was arrested after repeatedly attending school without a mask, in protest against Laramie High School’s COVID-19 mask mandate. Her actions led to three suspensions and multiple trespassing citations. Smith and her parents subsequently filed a lawsuit against the Albany County School District No. 1 Board of Trustees, the superintendent, and the high school principal, alleging violations of her First Amendment rights and due process under the US Constitution.
The original case was dismissed in 2023 by US District Judge Nancy Freudenthal, who ruled that Smith’s injuries were “self-inflicted” because she voluntarily chose to disobey the mask policy and rejected virtual learning options. Freudenthal also cited the expiration of the mask mandate and Smith’s withdrawal from school as reasons why there was no imminent harm.
The three-judge panel of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals found Freudenthal’s reasoning insufficient.
“We are not persuaded,” the judges wrote.
Freudenthal emphasized that Smith’s arrest, suspension, and legal consequences constituted a clear injury. They highlighted that government actions requiring or forbidding certain behavior typically meet the threshold for establishing harm.
“They suspended [Smith] three times and requested that local law enforcement issue her two trespassing citations, arrest her, and take her to jail… These allegations state an injury in fact,” the judges noted.
The appeals court also rejected the notion that Smith’s choice to avoid virtual learning negated her injury, stating that virtual education is not equivalent to in-person instruction. The panel clarified that their ruling did not address the merits of the mask mandate itself but solely the issue of Smith’s legal standing to bring the case.
The case now returns to the US District Court for Wyoming for further proceedings, where the court will need to reexamine the lawsuit under the new guidance provided by the appeals court.
Wyoming News Now and Law&Crime contributed to this report.
