A federal judge ruled that the federal mask mandate for modes of public transportation in the United States was unlawful in this 59-page document — citing that it exceeded the authority of health officials in the United States during the current 2019 Novel coronavirus pandemic — earlier today, Monday, April 18, 2022 at the United States District Court, Middle District, Tampa Division.
Federal Mask Mandate Declared Unlawful and Vacated by Judge
“The Court DECLARES UNLAWFUL and VACATES the Mask Mandate, remanding it to the CDC for further proceedings consistent with this order”, ordered Kathryn Kimball Mizelle — who is the United States district judge who presided over case 8:21-cv-01693-KKM-AEP. “The Court directs the Clerk to TERMINATE President Joseph R. Biden, Jr, as a Defendant to this action, to ENTER final judgement in favor of Plaintiffs as prescribed in this order, and to CLOSE this case.”
The judge ruled that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the United States had applied flawed reasoning to their perspective of the cases and the Public Health Services Act of 1944 that had given the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention the basis for their mask mandate in the first place.
This case was brought to court by the Health Freedom Defense Fund — which is a non-profit organization that seeks to protect and advance health freedom, educate Americans on informed consent, advocate for human rights and bodily autonomy for all people, and legally challenge unethical mandates, laws, and policies when necessary — along with Ana Daza and Sarah Pope, who are two travelers. The organization successfully argued that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention failed to observe normal “notice and comment procedures” when the federal mask mandate for all modes of public transportation was first introduced. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has claimed that it did not have any time to waste going through the normal rulemaking procedure because the United States was facing a public health emergency.
The history of this specific case is outlined here.
Despite the ruling, some airlines intend to continue requiring all passengers and members of the flight crew who travel aboard their airplanes to continue wearing masks despite the board of directors of Airlines for America — which is a trade group that represents the commercial aviation industry in the United States — having written an open letter to the current president of the United States which calls for the end to both the requirements for testing for the 2019 Novel Coronavirus prior to departure and the mandate to wear masks and other coverings for the nose and mouth.
Whether the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — by whom the federal mask mandate was recently extended through Tuesday, May 3, 2022 after having been already extended several times — will appeal this ruling is unknown at the time this article was written.
This ruling is contrary to what was said at the press briefing in the Briefing Room at the White House on Tuesday, April 5, 2022 by both public health officials of the Department of Health & Human Services of the United States and what is known as the White House COVID-19 Response Team, as Tamara Keith — who is the White House correspondent for National Public Radio, which is more popularly known as NPR — asked “is there any thought of changing the requirements of testing for international travel and masks on planes? If we could get an update on that.”
Jeffrey Zients — who is currently both the White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator and counselor to the president of the United States — responded: “Okay, on your second question: No, there are no plans to change the international travel requirements at this point.”
Other Lawsuits
Nine flight attendants from Allegiant Air, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Frontier Airlines, Southwest Airlines, and United Airlines are reportedly suing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the United States pertaining to the federal travel mask mandate, claiming that masks and most other coverings of the nose and mouth are ineffective, obstructs the ability to breath normally, and that the policy is difficult to enforce in general — especially as it has led to numerous dangerous incidents aboard airplanes, as approximately 75 percent of the greater than 5,800 incidents at airports and aboard airplanes during 2021 were due to the mask mandate. The lawsuit calls the mandate “an illegal and unconstitutional exercise of executive authority.”
In sworn declarations provided by the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, the “face masks cause us numerous health problems including lightheadedness, dizziness, chest pain, overheating, perspiration, irritation, increase in stress, sore throat, fatigue, limited breathing capacity, reduced circulation in the limbs, headaches, weakened immune system, nausea, lung pain, brain fog, anxiety, inflammatory response, multiple upper respiratory disturbances, inflammation, sinus infection, cognitive dysfunction, malaise, coughing, and wheezing.”
Additionally, ten pilots from American Airlines, JetBlue Airways, and Southwest Airlines reportedly filed a similar lawsuit against the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the United States last month in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia to end the mask mandate.
Despite myriad other similar lawsuits, this is the first case in which a judge has ruled against both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the White House.
Final Boarding Call
I believe that the end to both the requirements for testing for the 2019 Novel Coronavirus prior to departure and the mandate to wear masks and other coverings for the nose and mouth should have already occurred a long time ago.
I further believe that if testing for the 2019 Novel Coronavirus was really that critical prior to boarding an airplane for a flight, then stations with the proper acceptable tests should have been set up at every airport possible around the world so that travelers did not have to run around finding someplace where they could be tested within the proper timeframe prior to a flight — regardless of whether this process was available free of charge or for a fee; and acceptable masks should also have been available at every airport possible.
The time to end both of those requirements and mandates cannot come soon enough, in my opinion — and in my travels, I still see the ground littered with masks and other coverings for the nose and mouth and gloves…
All photographs ©2020 by Brian Cohen.
