21 states demand an end to the mask mandate for public transport

A group of 21 states, as well as groups of pilots and flight attendants, are asking the federal courts to permanently end the federal mask mandate on public transportation, with less than three weeks to go.

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, who was joined by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, said the CDC’s mask ordinances for transportation, including commercial aircraft, are “illegal.” ”.

Moody also said that these orders exceed the competence of the CDC, which depends on the government, are “unfounded”, because it is not proven that they serve to prevent contagion, and cause “confusion, chaos and pressure” to people, the prosecutor added. Floridian General.

“President Biden’s short-sighted, heavy-handed and illegal travel policies are frustrating travelers and causing chaos on public transportation,” the Florida attorney general said.

Moody and his colleagues from Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, Virginia, and West Virginia presented to the Federal Court of the Middle District of Florida a lawsuit in which they request precautionary measures to definitively suspend those ordinances.

According to the lawsuit, mandating the use of face coverings on transportation, including airplanes, exceeds the CDC’s authority in several ways.

“It is past time to relieve some of the pressure on travelers and those who work in the travel industry to immediately end Biden’s illegal public transportation ordinances,” Moody said.

In Florida, those rules interfere with state law that prohibits forced masking across the board, he added.

DeSantis said, “Florida has led the nation in standing up to the misguided policies of the federal government and fighting heavy-handed mandates that have no scientific backing.”

“If politicians and celebrities can attend the Super Bowl without a mask, then all American citizens should have the right to fly without a mask. It is high time to get rid of this unnecessary mandate and return to normal life,” he asserted.

Moody recently led 22 other state attorneys general in demanding an end to the Head Start program’s mask mandate, which required children as young as two to wear masks, even when playing outside.

The Florida attorney general previously filed a lawsuit to put an end to this mandate and the court agreed with her.