Trump-appointed judge in FL declares Biden admin, CDC exceeded powers for over a year

Airlines across the country wasted little time in announcing changes to their in-flight face mask rules Monday evening after U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle declared President Joe Biden’s sweeping mask mandate null and void. It was the moment that liberty-loving American travelers had been waiting for since Biden imposed the travel restriction via executive order one day after taking office in January of 2021. It was also a moment that Citizens for Free Speech (CFFS) has been working toward.

"We have been arguing for nearly two years that the First Amendment rights of the American people were being trampled by Biden’s order,” said CFFS founder and executive director Patrick Wood. “At first they tried to use science as the basis for these muzzles on public transportation, and when the science didn’t stand up, they switched to full-on authoritarianism. The CDC admitted that cloth masks were useless against coronavirus, and yet they continued to force compliance in a blatant abuse of power.”

Judge Mizelle ruled the mandate was unlawful because it “exceeded the CDC’s statutory authority, improperly invoked the good cause exception to notice and comment rulemaking, and failed to adequately explain its decisions.”

The judge noted that the CDC does not have the power nor the authority to enlist “local governments, airport employees, flight attendants, and even ride-sharing drivers” to act as federal agents in removing or detaining passengers who didn’t comply with the mask orders “all on the suspicion that they will spread a disease.”

“In this statute,” the Trump-appointed judge wrote, “the CDC finds a power over public health that was traditionally understood—and is still understood—as a function of state police power.”

Wood couldn’t agree more.

“We have seen enough of private citizens being treated like criminals for trying to breathe free air in airports, on flights and in other public spaces,” he said. “And we have seen enough of untrained employees trying to act as law enforcement agents. American citizens have the right to free speech and free expression, and that includes the right to decide if they want to cover their faces with useless cloths all to help the federal government continue to push their propaganda campaign of fear. CFFS will continue its campaign of influence on federal legislators until all unconstitutional mandates are lifted.”

For more information about CFFS please visit www.CitizensForFreeSpeech.org.

Contact:

Bob Frantz
National Director of Communications
[email protected]