Rep. Peter Merideth, D-St. Louis, and Attorney General Eric Schmitt debated school masking mandates. Schmitt was at the House budget committee for a hearing about his department's budget.
JEFFERSON CITY — Attorney General Eric Schmitt said Wednesday “I’d have to look at dress code issues†when asked if schools may require pupils to wear shoes.
Rep. , D-St. Louis, posed the question — “Can school districts require shoes?†— during a House Budget Committee hearing.
The attorney general, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, has sued dozens of school districts over their masking rules and faced questioning about those efforts during the hearing on his budget request.
Merideth said school districts are trying to make “tough decisions†at the local level as people continue to die from COVID-19.
“I’m not questioning the intentions,†Schmitt said. “I’m saying that under the law, they don’t have the ability to do it (require masks).â€
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“My question for you is, under the law then, do they have the ability to require shoes?†Merideth asked.
“I’d have to look at dress code issues,†Schmitt said. “It’s not anything I’ve looked at.â€
Merideth asked if shoes could be part of a dress code, couldn’t masks?
“Masks play a very different role than a dress code,†Schmitt said.
After the hearing, Schmitt’s spokesman didn’t say whether the attorney general believed local school districts could force students to wear shoes.
“The attorney general very clearly addressed that ridiculous line of questioning during the hearing,†said Chris Nuelle, Schmitt’s spokesman.
Asked “yes or no on shoes?†Nuelle said “I’m not dignifying that question with a response.â€
“You’re trying to create a narrative from a ridiculous comparison,†Nuelle said before claiming masks are harming children.
“I think he dodged†the question, Merideth said after the hearing.
Merideth also asked about Schmitt’s cease-and-desist letter to local health departments after a Cole County Circuit Court ruling last year striking state health regulations.
After the letter, the Laclede County Health Department said it would stop all COVID-19 work, including contact tracing and public announcements of COVID-19 statistics, .
“Have you followed up with any of them to give them more specific guidance?†Merideth asked.
“I would have to check,†Schmitt said.
“You give opinions,†Merideth said. “If you’re sending them a letter telling them they have to cease something, and then they cease entirely out of caution, is it not your responsibility to also follow up and say, ‘Well to be very clear here are the only things I’m telling you that you need to stop.’â€
“You need to give them the full picture of what you’re saying is and isn’t (legal),†Merideth said.
Merideth asked how the attorney general’s office handled the Cole County case, in which the attorney general’s office was representing the Department of Health and Senior Services, which sought to affirm the regulations the court struck.
“We had a line attorney that worked on that unencumbered,†Schmitt said.
“As a lawyer, your job is to represent your client,†Merideth said. “You have publicly opposed the state’s position on that case and yet your office represented the state on that case.
“Was there any conflict of interest?†Merideth asked.
“No,†Schmitt said. “The lawyer represented the state to the best of her ability.â€
Schmitt said he decided not to appeal the decision when the state lost.
Originally posted at 4:05 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 16.Â
Rep. Peter Merideth, D-St. Louis, questions Attorney General Eric Schmitt on his decisions after the Cole County ruling on health departments and on lawsuits over school mask mandates.
