CDC’s mask mandate extension keeps legal fights alive

The lead plaintiff in a group of cases aiming to end the federal transportation mask mandate is vowing to continue the legal fight as the Biden administration extended the face-covering requirement on Wednesday for another two weeks.

Lucas Wall, a plaintiff in three federal lawsuits, said it is “ridiculous” for President Biden’s administration to extend the mask requirement on airplanes another 15 days.

As chairman of Americans Against Mask Mandate, he said his group has 14 lawsuits challenging the mask rules, which were set to expire April 18 but were extended through May 3.

“We will keep these cases coming until science and common sense prevails,” Mr. Wall said.

“COVID-19 cases are as low now as they are ever likely to be. If the administration can’t lift the mandate now, when will it ever? And this is all a charade since the science overwhelmingly shows that masks have been totally ineffective at reducing COVID-19 spread but harm human health in dozens of ways. Not to mention the chaos in the sky the mask enforcement has created as oxygen-starved passengers and flight crews battle with each other over one’s ability to breathe freely,” he added.

Mr. Wall said the Supreme Court should have stepped in when he filed an emergency petition against the federal mask requirement last summer.

The federal government announced Wednesday its extension of the mask mandate for federal transportation, which includes planes, trains, buses and subways, due to an uptick in COVID-19 cases.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit is weighing one of Mr. Wall’s cases. The court has given the government until May 26 to respond to the claims that its requirement runs afoul of federal law and the Constitution.

Judges Karen L. Henderson, a Bush appointee; David S. Tatel, a Clinton appointee; and Cornelia Pillard, an Obama appointee, are overseeing the challenge.

There’s also a legal battle pending in a federal court in Texas after the state, a GOP congresswoman and an advocacy group sued the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention over the mask requirement in February. Judge Reed Charles O’Connor, a Bush appointee, is handling that legal battle.

Spokespeople from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Transportation Security Administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

If the mandate ends, the courts would likely dismiss challenges looking to upend the requirements, citing the cases as moot. 

But Josh Blackman, a professor at South Texas College of Law, said the new extension will keep the plaintiffs’ claims alive — at least for now.

“This two-week extension keeps the case alive, ever so briefly,” Mr. Blackman said.

For more information, visit The Washington Times COVID-19 resource page.