White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki called the judge’s ruling “a disappointing decision” and said “we’re continuing to recommend that people wear masks” while the administration considers its legal options.
Prior to the TSA decision, some pilots said they were worried about the confusion being created by the judge’s ruling and CDC recommendations.
“We’re the kids looking at the two parents saying two different things,” said Dennis Tajer, a spokesman for the Allied Pilots Association, which represents American Airlines Group Inc. pilots. “We know it makes it very difficult. Our passengers are probably as confused as we are.”
Travelers on Monday said there were no apparent immediate changes. Everyone on board an American Airlines flight from Dallas to Miami still wore masks, although news of the judge’s ruling was being reported, Carolina Silva said. The pilot told passengers prior to takeoff that “unlike what you may have heard, the mask mandate is still on,” Silva said.
Everyone at Miami International Airport was also wearing masks after the plane from Dallas landed, according to Silva. A passenger who landed at LaGuardia Airport in New York Monday said everyone there wore a mask.
It’s not clear what impact the judge’s ruling might have on state and local regulations that are based on CDC guidance.
Airlines for America, the lobbying group for the biggest U.S. carriers, and the Justice Department didn’t immediately comment on the ruling. The CDC said it doesn’t comment on litigation.
Mizelle, an appointee of former president Donald Trump, ruled that the CDC had incorrectly described the mask mandate as a form of “sanitation” to justify its authority in the matter.
“Wearing a mask cleans nothing,” Mizelle wrote. “At most, it traps virus droplets. But it neither ‘sanitizes’ the person wearing the mask or ‘sanitizes’ the conveyance.”
The judge also found that the CDC had gone too far by issuing a regulation that “acts on individuals directly” rather than just their “property interests.”
“Since the mask mandate regulates an individual’s behavior — wearing a mask — it imposes directly on liberty interests,” she wrote.
Airlines’ Position
The ruling comes as states across the U.S. have eased restrictions following an overall drop in case numbers from a January peak caused by the omicron variant of the coronavirus. Almost 1 million Americans have died of Covid in the past two years, and hundreds more continue to die every day.
“I feel very strongly the mask mandate should be lifted and individuals, including our own employees, make their own decisions and take personal accountability for their health on board our
planes,” Delta Air Lines Inc. Chief Executive Officer Ed Bastian said in a CNBC interview April 13. “Candidly, it’s time to let the masks go.”
CEOs from the largest U.S. airlines said in a letter to President Joe Biden last month that it was “past time” to lift the mandate.
Passenger’s position