In a move that seems almost nostalgic at this point, the Biden administration’s Department of Justice has asked a federal judge to overturn a 2022 decision that ruled mandated masking while on public transportation to be unlawful.
As reported by NBC News, the administration appealed the ruling moments before the deadline for appeals was to come to an end. The report also said, “the rate of unruly air passenger incidents fell to its lowest level since late 2020 soon after the judge’s mask mandate ruling.”
Full text of Biden's appeal to reinstate his airplane/mass transit mask mandate: https://t.co/W2exltki4t
— Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) May 31, 2022
In their appeal, the Justice Department said, “The findings in the CDC order likewise provide ample support for the agency’s determination that there was good cause to make the order effective without delay. None of the district court’s quarrels with the CDC order comes close to showing that the CDC has acted outside the ‘zone of reasonableness.’”
The court responded with, “The Court DECLARES UNLAWFUL and VACATES the Mask Mandate, remanding it to the CDC for further proceedings consistent with this order. The Court directs the Clerk to TERMINATE President Joseph R. Biden, Jr., as a Defendant to this action, to ENTER final judgment in favor of Plaintiffs as prescribed in this order, and to CLOSE this case.”
It is notable how this appeal follows a controversial report from the New York Times that stated, “In U.S. cities where mask use has been more common, COVID has spread at a similar rate as in mask-resistant cities.” The report also said, “Mask mandates in schools also seem to have done little to reduce the spread. Hong Kong, despite almost universal mask-wearing, recently endured one of the world’s worst COVID outbreaks.”
