A federal judge in Florida has voided the national mask mandate covering airplanes and other public transportation, arguing that it exceeds the authority of U.S. health officials.
The decision Monday by U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle in Tampa, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, also said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention failed to justify its decision and did not follow proper rulemaking.
An administration official subsequently issued a statement saying while multiple agencies are “reviewing the decision and assessing potential next steps,” Monday’s court ruling means the CDC’s “public transportation masking order is not in effect at this time.”
“Therefore, TSA will not enforce its Security Directives and Emergency Amendment requiring mask use on public transportation and transportation hubs at this time,” the official added. “CDC recommends that people continue to wear masks in indoor public transportation settings.”
The Department of Homeland Security — which oversees implementation of the mandate — began reviewing the order right away, according to the White House’s top spokeswoman.
“This is obviously a disappointing decision,” said press secretary Jen Psaki, later adding: “As soon as they have an assessment and an update on additional steps, they’ll make that available.”
Psaki said the Biden administration still recommends that people wear masks on airplanes in the meantime, in accordance with the CDC guidance.
“We’re continuing to recommend people wear masks,” she said.
In her 59-page ruling, Mizelle said the CDC did not follow rules forward by the Administrative Procedure Act when imposing the mask mandate.
“The court concludes that the mask mandate exceeds the CDC’s statutory authority and violates the procedures required for agency rulemaking under the APA,” the filing read in part. “Accordingly, the court vacates the mandate and remands it to the CDC.”
Mizelle also said the only remedy was to vacate the rule entirely because it would be impossible to end it for the limited group of people who objected to it in the lawsuit.
“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 judge said “a limited remedy would be no remedy at all” and that the courts have full authority to make a decision such as this — even if the goals of the CDC in fighting the virus are laudable.
“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 Justice Department declined to comment Monday when asked if the government planned to appeal the ruling.
The mask mandate was set to expire Monday, but was recently extended for two weeks until May 3 in order to monitor “the spread of the Omicron variant, especially the BA.2 subvariant that now makes up more than 85% of U.S. cases,” the CDC said.
A top White House health official told Spectrum News last week that the extension would give them time to assess how severe the BA.2 wave will be.
“Will those cases lead to a real substantial increase in hospitalizations and deaths? Or will they not?” said Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House’s new COVID-19 response coordinator. “We honestly don’t know because the BA.2 has only become dominant in the U.S. in the last couple of weeks.”
The mask requirement for travelers was the target of months of lobbying from the airlines, which sought to kill it. The carriers argued that effective air filters on modern planes make transmission of the virus during a flight highly unlikely. Republicans in Congress also fought to kill the mandate.
Critics have seized on the fact that states have rolled back rules requiring masks in restaurants, stores and other indoor settings, and yet COVID-19 cases have fallen sharply since the omicron variant peaked in mid-January.
Mizelle was nominated to the bench in 2020 by then-President Donald Trump.
