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For: Real America News Updated 19 Apr 2022 , 20: 54 pm EDT
The Department of Justice said Tuesday that will appeal a court ruling that annulled the federal government’s mandate on the use of masks for travelers, but only if the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) determines that the mandate is still necessary to protect public health.
“The Department of Justice and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention disagree with the district court’s decision and will appeal, subject to the CDC’s finding that the order remains necessary for public health,” spokesman Anthony Coley said in a statement.
“The Department continues to believe that the order requiring the use of masks in the transportation corridor is a valid exercise of the authority that Congress has granted to the CDC to protect public health. That is an important authority that the Department will continue to work to preserve,” Coley said.
Before the mask mandate was lifted in commercial flights by the decision of a federal judge, the Biden administration had extended until May 3,
the mandate that requires the use of masks on board public transport, planes, trains and inside airports.
The CDC must assess whether the mandate was still necessary until May 3, and Coley said that any appeal would come after that date.
“If the CDC concludes that a mandatory public health order is still necessary after that evaluation, the Justice Department will appeal the district court’s decision,” Coley said.
The move comes after the Justice Department Justice spent much of the day considering whether to challenge a court decision that caught much of the administration, the airline industry, local public transportation departments, and ordinary Americans by surprise.
Since the administration’s ruling and subsequent guidance that the mandate was unenforceable, several U.S. airlines, some public transportation authorities, Uber, Lyft, and Amtrak have announced that Masks are no longer required for passengers.
Tuesday , the White House also rejected one of those companies, Delta Air Lines, after the company referred to Covid-19 as a “common seasonal virus” in his post announcing that masks are optional on his flights.
Delta’s original post read: “We are relieved to see mascari’s mandate lifted lla of the USA to facilitate global travel and COVID- has become an ordinary seasonal virus”.
Delta Air Lines later edited its statement, announcing the end of the federal mask mandate to call COVID-04 a “more manageable respiratory virus” on Tuesday.
With information from CNN and CBS News
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