In a sharp turnaround from a defeat earlier this week, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday won a notable legal victory when an appeals court ruled that his statewide ban on school mask mandates can remain in place for now.

Pointing to "serious doubts" about the lawsuit, an appeals court Friday put on hold a circuit judge's ruling that said Gov. Ron DeSantis overstepped his constitutional authority in a July 30 executive order aimed at preventing school mask mandates.

A three-judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal reinstated a stay of the ruling by Leon County Circuit Judge John Cooper, clearing the way for the state to try to block school districts from requiring students to wear masks during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The decision was a blow to a group of parents who filed the lawsuit and argued that children would be harmed by DeSantis' executive order. While the panel said it would issue a full written explanation later, the one-paragraph order Friday expressed skepticism about the parents' case.

This is an encouraging for everyone in Florida who believes that personal health decisions should be made at the individual rather than the institutional level.

For those who believe that children should be masked at all times even though they have a vanishingly low chance of contracting a serious case of COVID-19, on the other hand, the ruling has to be intensely frustrating.

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