Judge Throws Out Federal Mask Mandate for Public Transportation

A federal judge in Florida on Monday declared that the Biden administration’s Covid-19 mask mandate for public transportation is unlawful, invalidating a regulation that required travelers in the U.S. to wear masks on airplanes, trains, taxis, buses and other forms of public transit.

U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle in Tampa said the mandate exceeded the authority granted to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under federal public health law.

Judge Mizelle, a President Donald Trump appointee, said Congress had never clearly given the CDC the power to issue population-wide preventive public-health measures like the mask mandate.

Because the CDC acted beyond its authority, “the court must hold unlawful and set aside the mask mandate as an agency action that is not in accordance with law,” Judge Mizelle wrote in a 59-page opinion.

The judge’s ruling came days after the Biden administration extended the transportation mask mandate through May 3 after it was set to expire Monday.