Last week, the Biden administration extended the mask mandate for travelers on federal transportation despite the pleas of the CEOs of 10 major airlines, but a federal judge on Monday voided the requirement, which applies to airplanes and trains.
U.S. District Court Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, who was appointed by former President Trump, ruled in federal court in Florida that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention failed to justify its decision to extend the mandate 15 days to May 3 and did not go through the required notice and comment period for federal rulemaking. The judge found that the mandate, in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act, was outside the scope of the CDC's authority, calling it "arbitrary" and "capricious."
Mizelle, in her 59-page ruling, concluded the rule must be vacated nationwide, because "a limited remedy would be no remedy at all."
"Because our system does not permit agencies to act unlawfully even in pursuit of desirable ends, the court declares unlawful and vacates the mask mandate," she wrote.
The case brought by the nonprofit Health Freedom Defense Fund and frequent airline travelers Ana Daza and Sarah Pope against the Biden administration.
The basis for the mandate was the Public Health Services Act of 1944, which allows the CDC "to make and enforce such regulations" deemed "necessary to prevent the introduction, transmission, or spread of communicable diseases from foreign countries into the States." "Sanitation" is one of the methods to achieve that aim, according to the law, and the administration argued the mask mandate falls under "sanitation."
But the judge contended that the context of the statute indicates that "sanitation" refers to "measures that clean something, not ones that keep something clean."
"Wearing a mask cleans nothing," she wrote, arguing further that the sanitation power applies to property rather than people.
Mizelle, 35, clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas. She was appointed by Trump and confirmed by the Senate just before the end of the lame duck session in 2020.
The judge who just overturned the mask mandate on airplanes is Kathryn Kimball Mizelle. 35-years-old, former Clarence Thomas clerked, appointed by Trump and confirmed by the Senate right before the lame duck session ended in 2020. pic.twitter.com/lu6ck1FIvT
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) April 18, 2022
On Twitter, many flyers wondered if they would immediately be allowed to get rid of their masks. The general consensus is that airlines still have a right to enforce their own mask rules, and passengers must obey the orders of flight attendants and other airline personnel or risk being barred from a flight.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich tweeted: "We are on the way to the airport! Does the judges ruling mean we dont have to wear masks?"
At the White House, Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy asked Biden press secretary Jen Psaki asked why the administration continues to insist on an airline mask mandate while no longer requiring masks for reporters in the briefing room.
"Well, Peter, I'm not a doctor, you're not a doctor," she replied.
Psaki said Washington is in a "green" zone regarding COVID-19 transmission while the CDC has determined there have been "increasing cases on airplanes."
However, the CDC didn't claim there was any increase in cases on airplanes when it made the decision, claiming instead that there had been an increase in the seven-day moving average of COVID cases.
In any case, all 50 states now have lifted their mask mandates, and, meanwhile, the "risk of contracting coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) during air travel is lower than from an office building, classroom, supermarket, or commuter train," affirms an article in JAMA Network, a publication of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
"Modern airplanes maintain clean air by circulating a mix of fresh air and recycled air through HEPA filters, the same type of filters used in hospital operating rooms," the article explained.
DOOCY TIME: "You continue to recommend that people wear masks. Why is it that we can sit here in the White House Briefing Room with no masks, but people can't sit in an airplane cabin with no masks?"
Psaki: "Well Peter, I'm not a doctor. You're not a doctor, that I'm aware of." pic.twitter.com/jFmlQErgJx
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) April 18, 2022
Many foreign carriers have ditched their mask rules, including British Airways, SAS, KLM and Virgin Atlantic.
We are on the way to the airport! Does the judges ruling mean we dont have to wear masks?
— Newt Gingrich (@newtgingrich) April 18, 2022
If you're at an airport, send me video/pics. I want to see how many people are wearing masks now that a federal judge has ruled the mask mandate is against the law.
— Ivory Hecker (@IvoryHecker) April 18, 2022
On Twitter, a state lawmaker in Massachusetts demonstrated her lack of knowledge of the nation's three branches of government and its system of checks and balances in her comment on the ruling, writing that people should be "really, really concerned that the Courts are effectively taking away power from the federal government."
Today a federal judge called it overreach for US health officials to require masks on airplanes & other public transit, and no matter how you feel about masks, you should be really, really concerned that the Courts are effectively taking away power from the federal government.
— Lindsay Sabadosa (@SabadosaMA) April 18, 2022
'No longer aligned with the realities'
In March, the CEOs of 10 U.S. passenger and cargo airlines asked President Biden in a letter to lift the onboard mask mandate and predeparture testing rules. The chiefs of Alaska, American, Atlas, Delta, FedEx Express, Hawaiian, JetBlue, Southwest, United, UPS Airlines and the Airlines for America trade association signed the letter.
"Now is the time for the Administration to sunset federal transportation travel restrictions – including the international predeparture testing requirement and the federal mask mandate – that are no longer aligned with the realities of the current epidemiological environment," the CEOs wrote.
Airlines to Biden: Drop the Mask Mandate.
10 CEOs of US passenger and Cargo airlines send letter to President Biden calling for an end to the onboard mask mandate and predepature testing rules pic.twitter.com/Xcl1kWJ3pf— Kris Van Cleave (@krisvancleave) March 23, 2022
Last December, American Airlines CEO Doug Parker and Southwest CEO Gary Kelly said in a Senate hearing that mask mandates for air travel should be lifted, arguing the air in an airliner cabin is safer than any other indoor environment.
They pointed out that the HEPA air filtering systems capture nearly 100% of airborne contamination, exchanging cabin air without outside air every two or three minutes.
Parker said an airliner "is the safest place you can be indoors ... far safer than a theater, safer actually than an intensive care unit."
Kelly asserted "the case is very strong that masks don't add very much, if anything, in the air cabin environment."
"It is very safe and very high quality compared to any other indoor setting," the Southwest CEO said.
See the airline CEOs' remarks:
Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly: Face masks "don't add much" additional protection against the spread of COVID-19 on airplanes.
American Airlines CEO Doug Parker: "The airplane is the safest place you can be indoors... safer than an ICU." pic.twitter.com/SeuCvTCLVQ
— Moshe Schwartz (@YWNReporter) December 16, 2021
At the time, Sara Nelson, the president of the Association of Flight Attendants, insisted the mandate should remain in place, arguing it makes passengers feel safer. And she argued that some older planes don't have HEPA filters.
"I hope we are going to stay on the same messages and follow the medical experts, and do what’s necessary to keep everybody safe," she said.
However, studies by medical experts along with data accumulated from two years of mask mandates indicate they are not effective in curbing the spread of the virus. A study from Bangladesh touted by advocates of mask mandates was shown to have fundamental design flaws. And after researchers released more of their data, it was discovered there actually were minuscule infection differences between the treatment and control groups randomized across 600 villages.
via wnd