AMHERST, N.Y. -- HoganWillig represents roughly 500 sets of parents, a Niagara County legislator and a state Senator all against the state's mask mandate for school children.

On Thursday, partner Corey Hogan argued during a virtual hearing in front of state Supreme Court Justice Christina Ryba, out of Albany County, for a preliminary injunction.

"One is that there is no viral transmission problem in the schools and two, if you really look at the well-done studies, face masks simply don't work," Hogan said.

The firm has submitted expert testimony from two medical doctors and two PHDs on various studies suggesting masks are ineffective and potentially harmful for school children. However, the state said those are essentially minority opinions as reputable organizations like the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics do recommend kids wear them.

"This is so complicated that I think people can make mistakes, even in good faith. I don't know that there's anybody is out there running around saying things that they don't believe, but once we get into the nitty gritty, the devil's in the details," Hogan said. "I think we're going to find out that these masks are not effective."

Momentum is not on the firm's side. Judge Ryba has already denied a temporary restraining order and in separate state Supreme Court and federal cases this week, judges have made decisions in favor of the state.

"I think any negative decision probably hurts us like a positive case would help us. We haven't had a lot of positive cases," Hogan said.

The state is submitting those recent decisions to Judge Ryba. She also gave HoganWillig a day to respond why they shouldn't apply to the case in front of her.

"I'm encouraged by the fact that others are filing cases, because at least there's an effort out there to try to convince different judges of what we're saying, so I think it's more good than bad," Hogan said.

He said he doesn't expect a ruling on the preliminary injunction until next week.