July 29, 2021
Frequent Flyer to Challenge Federal Transportation Mask Mandate June 2 at Orlando Airport
Man Plans to Immediately Sue Federal Government
to Strike Down CDC & TSA Mask Requirement
June 1, 2021
By LUCAS WALL
THE VILLAGES, Florida – A frequent traveler plans to defy the Federal Transportation Mask Mandate on Wednesday morning, June 2, at Orlando International Airport.
Lucas Wall, 44, of Washington, D.C., has a 10 a.m. flight booked on Southwest Airlines to Fort Lauderdale. He will refuse to wear a mask at the Transportation Security Administration checkpoint and will presumably be denied the ability to board his flight.
Wall, who is fully vaccinated, also plans to challenge enforcement of the mask mandate by the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority, which operates MCO airport, and the Central Florida Regional Transportation Authority, which runs the Orlando region’s LYNX bus system.
Wall has drafted a lawsuit against TSA, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, President Joseph Biden, GOAA, LYNX, and others seeking to immediately enjoin enforcement of the FTMM as illegal and unconstitutional. Research indicates this will be only the second lawsuit in the country challenging TSA’s enforcement of the FTMM, and the first in the nation to challenge President Biden’s executive order requiring masks in the transportation sector as well as CDC’s order carrying out the president’s wishes.
“I strongly oppose any mask mandate on numerous grounds including that it’s a violation of my civil liberties to be ordered to block my nose and mouth, my only two sources of oxygen; face masks have proven to be totally ineffective in reducing COVID-19 infections and deaths (as shown in numerous scientific studies released lately); and researchers have identified more than dozens of health problems that occur among maskwearers,” Wall said.
Mask mandates enforced by GOAA and LYNX violate Florida Executive Order 21-102, signed May 3 by Gov. Ron Desantis, Wall argues. The order prohibits any governmental agency from requiring face coverings. Desantis wrote that “the policy of the State of Florida will favor a presumption of commercial operation and individual liberty with no toleration for unending and unjustified impediments to that liberty.”
Florida is one of 10 states that never had a statewide mask mandate. Wall contends the FTMM violates states’ rights under the Constitution’s 10th Amendment, among numerous other legal arguments. His planned travel Wednesday will be entirely within Florida.
Wall, a former transportation reporter and editor, has been taking care of his mother in The Villages, Florida, during the last several months of the pandemic. He has eight airline tickets booked for summer travel, beginning with Wednesday morning’s flight to Fort Lauderdale.
“I can’t tolerate wear a face mask,” Wall said. “I have never covered my face. Blocking my nose and mouth causes me to instigate a feeling of a panic attack, including hyperventilating and other breathing trouble. The federal government has no legal authority to require I wear a mask while traveling.”
He plans to file the lawsuit by end of this week in the U.S. District Court in Orlando seeking a judge’s order to permanently ban enforcement of the requirement that airplane, bus, train, ferry, cruiseship, and other transportation passengers and employees obstruct their breathing. CDC on May 13 changed its COVID-19 guidance to advise fully vaccinated Americans not to wear masks. But it has refused to revoke the Federal Transportation Mask Mandate, which TSA currently plans to enforce at least through Sept. 13.
Join my new Facebook group Americans Against Mask Mandates.
Donate to my legal fund on GoFundMe at Help End Federal Transportation Mask Mandate.
I’m so happy somebody is challenging this outrageous Federal Transportation Mask Mandate! I hope your lawsuit is successful. Best of luck man. We have to stop being muzzled.