Judge Voids Airline Mask Mandate

A Florida judge has struck down the federal mask mandate on airplanes and public transportation, a victory for similar lawsuits pending in other states, including one in Texas involving Schaerr l Jaffe attorneys.

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle of the Middle District of Florida said the mandate requiring all commercial airplane passengers to wear masks exceeded the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s authority and called the mandate “arbitrary and capricious.”

In March, Ken Klukowski, a senior counsel at Schaerr l Jaffe LLP, filed a similar lawsuit in the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas. The suit, filed on behalf of the Family Research Council Action organization, claimed masks are ineffective at combatting the spread of COVID-19 in airports or on airplanes and asked for a nationwide preliminary and permanent injunction on the Biden administration’s mask mandate on flights.

“The science does not support the FAA’s, CDC’s and TSA’s mask mandate on airplanes,” Klukowski stated after Judge Mizelle’s ruling. “In fact, growing scientific literature documents the harms resulting from mask-wearing, especially as it relates to children,” he added.

The mandate, which included buses, ferries, and subways, had been scheduled to expire in March but was extended until May 3 despite several requests from airline industry executives to let it expire.