Quest for 243

A global nomad's pursuit to see all 195 countries, 39 territories, & 9 de-facto nations

Supreme Court to Consider Today 4-Year-Old
Autistic Boy’s Request to Block TSA Mask Mandate

The U.S. Supreme Court is considering at its conference today a 4-year-old Florida boy’s emergency application to stay the Transportation Security Administration’s ability to enforce the Federal Transportation Mask Mandate, which is in effect until at least March 18.

The application from Michael Seklecki Jr. (listed as M.S. in legal papers) of Sanford, Florida, who suffers from Autism Spectrum Disorder and can’t medically wear a face covering, is on the justice’s conference agenda today, one day after the Supreme Court halted the Occupational Safety & Health Administration’s vaccine or mask/test mandate for all companies employing at least 100 workers. Joining the request are his father, Michael Sr., and Lucas Wall of Washington, D.C., who also medically can’t wear masks.


4-Year-Old Autistic Boy Asks Justice Gorsuch to Enjoin Federal Transportation Mask Mandate

A 4-year-old Florida boy who suffers from Autism Spectrum Disorder and can’t medically wear a face covering is asking U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch to block the Transportation Security Administration’s ability to enforce the Federal Transportation Mask Mandate, which is in effect until at least March 18.

In an emergency application resubmitted Dec. 21 and placed back on the docket today, Michael Seklecki Jr. of Sanford, Florida, his father Michael Sr., and Lucas Wall of Washington, D.C., request Gorsuch stays enforcement of the mandate pending final disposition of their petition for review in the U.S. Court of Appeals.


Legal Challenge to CDC’s Transportation
Mask Mandate Enters Final Phase

A frequent flyer grounded because he medically can’t tolerate wearing a face mask lodged a new complaint Sunday attacking the legality of the Federal Transportation Mask Mandate ordered by the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, advancing the case into final proceedings after a federal judge denied Dec. 18 the government’s motion to dismiss.

Plaintiff Lucas Wall, 44, of Washington, D.C., asserts in the 89-page amended complaint that CDC’s mask mandate is illegal and unconstitutional. He charges CDC and its parent agency, the Department of Health & Human Services, with eight counts of violating the Constitution and federal law by imposing a requirement that all passengers and employees throughout the nation’s entire public-transportation system obstruct their oxygen intake. Wall also charges the agencies with four constitutional and statutory violations for the International Traveler Testing Requirement, which mandates that all airline passengers flying to the United States – but not travelers entering the country by land or sea – submit a negative COVID-19 test within one day of departure.


Media Coverage of Transportation Mask
& Testing Lawsuits October 2021

I’m challenging the Federal Transportation Mask Mandate and International Traveler Testing Requirement in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida (Wall v. CDC). Also, in the MDFL, I’m also suing seven airlines in a class action with 12 other plaintiffs for illegally discriminating against passengers with disabilities who can’t tolerate wearing face masks (Wall v. Southwest Airlines).

I’m in a group of 14 who filed six lawsuits against the Transportation Security Administration for illegally enforcing a mask mandate (Wall v. TSA). Our cases started in six circuits of the U.S. Courts of Appeals and are now in the District of Columbia Circuit.

Here’s media coverage of the cases during October 2021:


Orlando Airport & Transit Authorities Must
Defend Mask Mandates, Federal Judge Orders

A federal judge refused Saturday requests by the Orlando airport and transit authorities to dismiss a lawsuit challenging their enforcement of mask mandates as violations of Florida law and the state constitution.

The Greater Orlando Aviation Authority, which operates Orlando International Airport, and the Central Florida Transportation Authority, which runs the region’s LYNX bus system, had asked U.S. District Judge Paul Byron to dismiss plaintiff Lucas Wall’s claims that the state agencies are requiring passengers to cover their faces in direct defiance of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ May 3 executive order prohibiting any governmental entity from mandating face masks and a June 11 Florida Court of Appeal decision finding public mask mandates are in violation of the Florida Constitution’s privacy clause.

Byron denied GOAA and LYNX’s motions to dismiss in a decision issued Saturday in a case involving not just the two state agencies’ face-covering dictates but also the Federal Transportation Mask Mandate and International Traveler Testing Requirement.


Federal Judge: Lawsuit Against CDC’s International Traveler Testing Requirement May Proceed

A federal judge in Orlando, Florida, denied Saturday the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention’s effort to dismiss a legal challenge to the International Traveler Testing Requirement, which demands airlines flying to the United States refuse boarding to any passenger – regardless of vaccination status – who doesn’t present a negative COVID-19 test taken within one day of departure.

The decision by U.S. District Judge Paul Byron is a win for fully vaccinated globetrotter and travel blogger Lucas Wall, 44, of Washington, D.C., who wants the requirement vacated because it’s burdensome, expensive, and not authorized by Congress. Wall, who has visited 134 countries, hasn’t been abroad since March 2020 because of onerous COVID-19 restrictions such as the ITTR and Federal Transportation Mask Mandate. His case appears to be the only one in the nation challenging the ITTR as unlawful.


Federal Judge Denies CDC’s Request to
Dismiss Challenge to Federal Mask Mandate

In a victory for the disabled who can’t wear masks and other Americans who believe face coverings should be an individual choice, a federal judge in Orlando, Florida, denied today the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention’s motion to dismiss the nation’s first lawsuit seeking to strike down its Federal Transportation Mask Mandate.

Instead of tossing the entire case as the federal government asked, U.S. District Judge Paul Byron, in a 30-page decision, sustained Plaintiff Lucas Wall’s charges that CDC’s FTMM is illegal and unconstitutional. Byron denied CDC’s motion to dismiss and instead ordered Wall to file a shorter complaint by Jan. 3. Wall said he intends to do so within a couple days.


Media Coverage of Transportation Mask
& Testing Lawsuits November 2021

I’m challenging the Federal Transportation Mask Mandate and International Traveler Testing Requirement in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida (Wall v. CDC). Also, in the MDFL, I’m also suing seven airlines in a class action with 12 other plaintiffs for illegally discriminating against passengers with disabilities who can’t tolerate wearing face masks (Wall v. Southwest Airlines).

I’m in a group of 14 who filed six lawsuits against the Transportation Security Administration for illegally enforcing a mask mandate (Wall v. TSA). Our cases started in six circuits of the U.S. Courts of Appeals and are now in the District of Columbia Circuit. Here’s media coverage of the cases during November 2021:


Disabled Missouri Veteran Asks Court of Appeals
to Enjoin Federal Transportation Mask Mandate

A 40-year-old Missouri man disabled from a gunshot wound while serving in the U.S. Army in Iraq who can’t wear a face covering is asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to block the Transportation Security Administration’s ability to enforce the Federal Transportation Mask Mandate, which President Biden recently announced his administration is extending a third time until mid-March.

In court papers filed this morning, Anthony Eades of Warsaw, Missouri, asks the tribunal to stay enforcement of the mandate pending final disposition of his petition for review, which he filed Oct. 19.

Eades asks for relief no later than Dec. 20 because he has a flight booked Dec. 21 on American Airlines from Kansas City, Missouri, to Colorado Springs to visit his 15-year-old son from a previous marriage for Christmas. American has refused to grant Eades a mask exemption.


Media Coverage of Transportation Mask
& Testing Lawsuits December 2021

I’m challenging the Federal Transportation Mask Mandate and International Traveler Testing Requirement in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida (Wall v. CDC). Also, in the MDFL, I’m also suing seven airlines in a class action with 12 other plaintiffs for illegally discriminating against passengers with disabilities who can’t tolerate wearing face masks (Wall v. Southwest Airlines).

I’m in a group of 14 who filed six lawsuits against the Transportation Security Administration for illegally enforcing a mask mandate (Wall v. TSA). Our cases started in six circuits of the U.S. Courts of Appeals and are now in the District of Columbia Circuit. Here’s media coverage of the cases during December 2021: