Airline passengers can remove masks after ruling, Biden administration official says
Passengers taking public transportation can remove their masks after a federal judge in Florida reversed a national mask mandate, ruling Monday that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention exceeded its authority in creating the order.
An official with President Joe Biden’s administration said Monday evening that, given the ruling, the TSA would no longer enforce the mandate, which had applied to commercial aircraft, buses, trains, ferries and subway systems, as well as transportation hubs. The administration’s statement came hours after U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle of the Middle District of Florida had called it “unlawful.”
“The court concludes that the mask mandate exceeds the CDC’s statutory authority and violates the procedures required for agency rulemaking,” wrote U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle of the Middle District of Florida. “The court vacates the mandate and remands it to the CDC.”
The administration decision would appear to pave the way for officials at local airports, including Miami-Dade, to allow passengers to fly without masks. Officials had said earlier Monday that they would await guidance from federal authorities before deciding what steps they should take after the judge’s ruling.
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The Biden administration has not yet said if it will appeal the ruling, with an official saying Monday only that agencies are “assessing potential next steps.”
The ruling came less than one week after the CDC extended its federal mandate for mask use on public transportation until May 3. In extending the mandate, the CDC cited a rise in COVID-19 cases and a coming surge in spring holiday travel.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Monday that the judge’s ruling was “obviously a disappointing decision.”
Mizelle, whose qualifications were questioned by a committee of the American Bar Association at the time of her nomination by former President Donald Trump, issued her ruling in a case brought last year in Tampa by two women and the Health Freedom Defense Fund, a conservative organization that opposes pandemic-related public health mandates.
Republicans have criticized the mandate as out of step with a growing trend to ease other pandemic-era restrictions.
Miami Congressman Carlos Gimenez filed a bill this month seeking to effectively block mask mandates at transportation hubs receiving federal funds. And in March, 21 states led by Republicans, including Florida, sued the federal government for an immediate end to the public health rule.
“Great to see a federal judge in Florida follow the law and reject the Biden transportation mask mandate,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wrote Monday on Twitter. “Both airline employees and passengers deserve to have this misery end.”
This story was originally published April 18, 2022 at 2:32 PM.
