Butler attorney Alexander Lindsay has filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of 10 Western Pennsylvania parents against state officials and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, claiming students are not being afforded medical and mental health exemptions to the state mandate requiring face masks in schools to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

The suit filed in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh seeks an injunction against the mask mandate, arguing that it violates the plaintiffs' civil rights against discrimination contained in the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Acting Secretary of Health Alison Beam, Acting Deputy Secretary of Education Sherri Smith and UPMC are named as defendants in the suit.

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