September 17, 2021
Fate of Federal Transportation Mask Mandate
Now in the Hands of U.S. Magistrate Judge
Government Files Final Brief in Nation’s First
Lawsuit Seeking to End Mandatory Masking
Sept. 17, 2021
By LUCAS WALL
ORLANDO, Florida – The U.S. Department of Justice filed today (Sept. 17) its final brief in the country’s first lawsuit seeking to strike down the Federal Transportation Mask Mandate. The case is now in the hands of Magistrate Judge Daniel Irick at the U.S. District Court here.
“Lucas Wall and the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention greatly differ about the scientific facts regarding the efficacy of mask wearing and what Mr. Wall calls ‘the harms of forced muzzling.’ But for those who seek to use our nation’s public-transportation systems during a global pandemic, Congress has entrusted those judgments to the experts at the CDC,” the federal government argues in an effort to save the FTMM from suffering the same fate (being enjoined by courts) as the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention’s Eviction Moratorium and Conditional Sailing Order for cruiseships.
“I’m confident the court will vacate the illegal and unconstitutional Federal Transportation Mask Mandate, which CDC issued without any authority from Congress and in violation of the constitutional right to freedom of travel, to due process of law, and states’ rights under the 10th Amendment,” said plaintiff Lucas Wall, 44, of Washington, D.C. “The Supreme Court struck down the Eviction Moratorium with strong language that CDC had no power to ban evictions during the COVID-19 pandemic. The same law applies to the mask mandate.”
Wall filed suit June 7 against CDC, President Joseph Biden, the Transportation Security Administration, and three other federal agencies to end the requirement that all passengers wear masks on all modes of transportation everywhere in the nation – including in the numerous states such as Florida where mandatory muzzling is forbidden by law and/or executive order.
“President Biden said in September 2020 that the federal government has no constitutional authority to require face coverings,” Wall said. “Yet just like with CDC’s Eviction Moratorium, he did it anyway – and is now trying to defend his unlawful 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 has asked the court for oral argument. The hearing has yet to be scheduled.
The case, Wall v. CDC, began June 2 when Wall was denied entry to a security checkpoint 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 114 scientific studies and medical articles showing masks aren’t effective in reducing COVID-19 spread but cause dozens of harms to human health.
His complaint asserts that the FTMM and CDC’s International Traveler Testing Requirement – issued as a result of executive orders signed by Biden and enforced (masks) by directives of the TSA – violate 16 provisions of the Constitution, federal laws, and regulations.
Biden’s mask mandate and testing requirement 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 have vacated over-reaching CDC COVID-19 orders such as the Eviction Moratorium and the Conditional Sailing Order for cruiseships,” Wall said. “Today’s government 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.”
The case is No. 6:21-cv-975 before the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida in Orlando.
View: Wall v. CDC case docket
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