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Starting tonight, @NYGovCuomo's executive order requires nearly everyone in NY over 2 years old to wear masks in public when not social distancing. The executive order does not, however, suspend Penal Law § 240.35(4), a ridiculous statute that defines wearing a mask as loitering.
As of 8pm tonight, wearing a mask in public places around other people who are also wearing masks is both forbidden and required by New York law. I'm sure the police will enforce these contradictory mandates in a completely rational & nondiscriminatory fashion.
The loitering provision about masks, like most loitering laws, is probably unconstitutional & should be repealed. It was struck down by a federal judge in 2002, but that decision was reversed by a 2004 Second Circuit panel including then-judge Sotomayor.
There has literally never been a better time to repeal these anti-mask laws. https://twitter.com/mjs_DC/status/1251231193296666625?s=20
Although @mjs_DC is undoubtedly right that many anti-mask laws were passed to fight the KKK, New York's anti-mask law actually dates to 1845 when it was passed to suppress the "anti-rent movement" of upstate tenant farmers, according to @NewYorkHistory. https://newyorkalmanack.com/2013/10/halloween-history-new-yorks-anti-mask-law/
NY's anti-mask law has been used against radicals ever since. In 2004, a state appeals court upheld the convictions of 11 anarchists who "covered their faces with bandanas while shouting epithets and political slogans during a May Day demonstration in Union Square Park."
Another source ("Dressing Constitutionally," a fascinating-looking book by @RobsonConLaw) notes that NY's 1845 anti-mask law "supplemented a previous law, An Act for the Prevention of Masquerades, passed in 1829." This law only applied in Manhattan & Brooklyn.
NYC required licenses for masquerade parties through at least the early 1970s. To get a license, applicants had to promise not to admit "males dressed in female attire." Legendary drag queen & activist Lee Brewster convinced DCA head Bess Myerson to drop the rule in 1970.
Needless to say, in addition to its history of being aimed at radicals & queer New Yorkers, the anti-mask law is mostly used to harass young men of color, as @petersterne points out. https://twitter.com/petersterne/status/1251245793530589186?s=20
