Biden Administration Asks Court to
Uphold Federal Transportation Mask Mandate

Frequent Flyer Suing to Strike Down Requirement

Says Government’s Arguments Are Feeble

Aug. 10, 2021

By LUCAS WALL

ORLANDO, Florida – The U.S. Department of Justice filed just before midnight Monday an 88-page brief in Wall v. CDC arguing the Federal Transportation Mask Mandate and International Traveler Testing Requirement should be upheld because Congress authorized the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention to adopt regulations that are necessary to prevent the introduction, transmission, or spread of communicable diseases from foreign countries into United States or from one state to another – an argument already rejected by five federal courts plus the U.S. Supreme Court in other pandemic cases.

“Congress prudently delegated broad authority to the CDC to take reasonable public-health measures to prevent the spread of communicable disease,” the Biden Administration wrote in its first brief responding to the first lawsuit in the nation challenging the two COVID-19 policies that have restricted travelers on all forms of public transportation nationwide since just after the president took office in late January. “That authority has never been more important than during this pandemic, and the measures at issue here – masking and testing – are conventional disease-prevention steps.”

Plaintiff Lucas Wall, 44, of Washington, D.C., asserts the government’s arguments trying to save the mask mandate and testing requirement are feeble given the huge number of constitutional provisions, federal laws, and regulations these rules flout.

“President Biden said in September that the federal government has no constitutional authority to require face coverings,” Wall said. “Yet just like with CDC’s Eviction Moratorium last week, he did it anyway – and is now trying to defend his illegal orders in court. Biden’s constant actions in violation of his oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution must be restrained by the judiciary.”

Wall will file counter-arguments later this week and hopes oral argument will be set for later this month or in early September.

The frequent flyer, who has visited 134 nations, filed suit against Biden, CDC, Transportation Security Administration, and five other defendants June 7 after he was denied entry to a security checkpoint June 2 at Orlando International Airport to catch a Southwest Airlines flight because he can’t wear a mask due to his Generalized Anxiety Disorder. He has filed as evidence 47 scientific studies showing masks aren’t effective in reducing COVID-19 spread and another 32 papers documenting the dozens of harms caused by maskwearing.

His complaint asserts that both CDC mandates – issued as a result of executive orders signed by Biden and enforced (masks) by directives of the TSA – violate 21 provisions of the Constitution, federal laws, and regulations. Five counts were dismissed Monday by agreement of the parties to narrow the controversy, leaving 16 left to be adjudicated.  

Biden’s arguments won’t withstand judicial scrutiny, Wall contends, because they: 1) were hastily issued without the required notice-and-comment period shortly after the president took office; 2) were not enacted into law by Congress; 3) exceed the Executive Branch’s statutory and constitutional authority; and 4) violate numerous U.S. Department of Transportation regulations prohibiting discrimination against passengers with disabilities such as Wall who can’t tolerate wearing a face covering.

“I expect these two policies will be struck down, just as numerous other federal courts vacated over-reaching CDC COVID-19 orders such as the Eviction Moratorium and the Conditional Sailing Order for cruiseships,” Wall said. “Today’s brief presents the court no legal justification for upholding these rules that have essentially banned tens of millions of Americans with medical conditions who can’t wear masks from flying; cruising; and riding buses, trains, subways, ferries, and all other modes of public transportation.”

DOJ also today filed the administrative record detailing how the FTMM was promulgated and the administrative record for the ITTR.

The case is No. 6:21-cv-975 before the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida in Orlando.

Detailed information about Wall v. CDC: www.lucas.travel

Join Wall’s Facebook group dedicated to ending the FTMM: Americans Against Mask Mandates

Donate to Wall’s legal fund on GoFundMe: Help End Federal Transportation Mask Mandate