South Carolina’s Supreme Court on Thursday struck down a school mask mandate in the state’s capital city in the midst of its largest surge in COVID-19 cases since last winter. In the latest of several such legal cases across a nation where cultural and political clashes have erupted over the COVID-19 response, the court ruled 5-0 to issue a declaratory judgment for South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, who brought the case against the city of Columbia. Wilson, a Republican, argued a state law that allows parents to decide whether their children wear masks in school trumps the city’s mask mandate ordinance for private and public elementary and middle school students and staff. The emergency school mask ordinance, brought by Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin in response to the surge in infections, had been approved by the city council in Columbia two weeks ago. The ordinance, which also applied to daycare …