Court: Those at Trump rally don’t have to wear masks

Tulsa, Okla. — The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Friday rejected a request to require everyone attending President Donald Trump’s rally in Tulsa this weekend to wear a face mask and maintain social distancing inside the arena to guard against the spread of the coronavirus.

The court ruled that the two local residents who asked that the thousands expected at Saturday night’s rally be required to take the precautions couldn’t establish that they have a clear legal right to the relief they sought. Oklahoma has had a recent spike in coronavirus cases, but in a concurring opinion, two justices noted that the state’s plan to reopen its economy is “permissive, suggestive and discretionary.”

“Therefore, for lack of any mandatory language in the (plan), we are compelled to deny the relief requested.”

The request was made by John Hope Franklin for Reconciliation, a nonprofit that promotes racial equality, and the Greenwood Centre, Ltd., which owns commercial real estate, and on behalf of the two locals, who are described as having compromised immune systems and being particularly vulnerable to COVID-19.

Tulsa’s Republican mayor, G.T. Bynum, declared a civil emergency and set a curfew for the area around the BOK Center ahead of the rally. However, Trump tweeted Friday that he spoke to Bynum and the mayor told him there would be no curfew, after all. Bynum’s spokeswoman, Michelle Brooks, later confirmed that the curfew had been rescinded.

When setting the curfew, Bynum cited the unrest that followed some of the recent protests around the country over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis last month.

“I have received information from the Tulsa Police Department and other law enforcement agencies that shows that individuals from organized groups who have been involved in destructive and violent behavior in other States are planning to travel to the City of Tulsa for purposes of causing unrest in and around the rally,” Bynum said in his order, which was posted on the department’s Facebook and Twitter pages.