Suburban New York county bans masks meant to hide people’s identities

MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) — Suburban New York officials looking to stop violent protesters from obscuring their identities have banned wearing masks in public except for health or religious reasons.

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, a Republican, signed the legislation Wednesday, calling it a “bill that protects the public.” Nassau County is on Long Island just east of New York City.

The county’s Republican-controlled Legislature approved the ban on face coverings on Aug. 5. Legislator Howard Kopel said lawmakers were responding to “antisemitic incidents, often perpetrated by those in masks” since the Oct. 7 start of the Israel-Hamas war.

The law makes it a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine for anyone in Nassau to wear a face covering to hide their identity in public. It exempts people who wear masks “for health, safety, religious or cultural purposes, or for the peaceful celebration of a holiday or similar religious or cultural event for which masks or facial coverings are customarily worn.”

Blakeman said that while mask-wearing campus protesters were the impetus for the ban, he sees the new law as a tool to fight everyday crime as well.

“This is a broad public safety measure,” Blakeman said at a news conference. “What we’ve seen is people using masks to shoplift, to carjack, to rob banks, and this is activity we want to stop.”

Advocates for people with disabilities called on Blakeman to hold off implementing the law, arguing it would overwhelmingly target people who rely on masks to manage their disabilities so they can fully participate in community life without risk to their health.

“We are giving Nassau County an opportunity to reverse its course here to avoid any unnecessary legal actions,” Timothy Clune, executive director of Disability Rights New York, said in a statement. “There are plenty of laws on the books that address criminal behavior. What’s next – banning sunglasses and hats?”

A spokesperson for Blakeman didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment Wednesday.

Civil libertarians, meanwhile, have criticized the mask ban as an infringement on First Amendment rights and an invitation to inequitable enforcement.

Susan Gottehrer, regional director of the New York Civil Liberties Union for Nassau, said in a statement that the law’s “so-called health and religious exceptions” will allow police officers “who are not medical or religious experts, but who do have a track record of racially-biased enforcement — to determine who needs a mask and who doesn’t, and who goes to jail.”

Gottehrer said Blakeman “has chosen to chase a culture war over protecting the rights and well-being of his own residents.”

And local Democrats, who are the minority party in the county legislature, said the law is “destined to be struck down in court.” They say it was passed despite Democrats proposing a narrower bill enhancing penalties against those who use face coverings while committing a crime.

Nassau County acted after New York’s Democratic governor, Kathy Hochul, said in June that she was considering a ban on face masks in the New York City subway system. She did not follow up with a plan.