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The Biden administration will appeal a federal judge’s decision that struck down the CDC’s mandate to wear masks on public transportation to prevent contagion with COVID, officials announced Wednesday.
The Department of Justice filed notice of its plans to appeal after U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle of Florida ruled Monday that the public transportation mask mandate be struck down because it exceeded the statutory authority of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Diseases.
The ruling stunned the White House and sparked days of debate within the administration about how to proceed. As that debate unfolded, officials publicly told Americans that they were on their own when it came to wearing masks on public transportation. The decision of passengers to wear a mask in public transport “depends on them”, said the Tuesday President Biden.
The US Department of Justice announced this Wednesday that it will appeal a court ruling that has annulled the order to wear masks on public transport in the country, with the aim of restoring that measure.
Justice Department spokesman Anthony Coley announced in a tweet that the agency will appeal the case to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Atlanta, Georgia, and with conservative majority judges.
In light of today’s assessment by @CDCgov that an order requiring masking in the transportation corridor remains necessary to protect the public health, the Department has filed a notice of appeal in Health Freedom Defense Fund, Inc., et al., v. Biden, et al.
—Anthony Coley (@AnthonyColeyDOJ) April 20, 1392359934
The Justice Department’s decision came shortly after the CDC will assure that they still consider the mandate necessary that, until this Monday, forced to wear face masks on planes, trains or buses .
“The CDC continues to believe that, at this time, an order requiring the use of masks in public buildings remains necessary for public health. indoor means of transportation”, said that agency in a statement on Wednesday.
The centers added that, in their opinion, the order was adjusted to its “legal authority to protect public health”, after a federal judge in Florida annulled the mandate and accused the CDC of “exceeding” its powers.
As a result of the order issued this Monday by Magistrate Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, United States authorities and airlines immediately stopped requiring the wearing of face masks on board airplanes and other means of public transportation, as well as in airports and stations.
The Department of Justice had advanced this Tuesday that it would appeal the decision in the event that the CDC determined that the mask mandate was still “necessary for public health”, something that agency did this Wednesday.
Before the judge’s decision, the CDC had extended until May 3 the mandatory use of masks in all public transport networks, due to the resurgence of the covid-pandemic 19 caused by subvariant BA.2.
Despite the notice of appeal from the Department of Justice, the Florida judge’s ruling remains in force and at least at the moment no There is an obligation to wear face masks in those places, although the CDC recommends that they be used.
The court decision has generated joy among many Americans, but also anxiety for those who are concerned about the impact of the covid pandemic-19 in vulnerable or immunosuppressed people, which still kills some 425 people per day in the United States.
Some defenders of the mask mandate had warned that appealing the decision could be counterproductive, because the higher courts have conservative majorities and could issue rulings that limit the authority of the CDC in the future.
“It is tempting to appeal, because this decision is ridiculous, but we have to preserve the ability of the CDC to act by if we have a large outbreak of cases in the fall or winter, ”said the former adviser to the White House on COVID-20, Andy Slavitt, to The New York Times.
With information from EFE
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