21 states file suit to end mask mandates on planes, trains and buses

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody and attorneys general from 20 other states on Tuesday filed a lawsuit challenging the Biden administration’s mask mandate for people traveling on planes, trains and buses.

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The suit claims that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention did not have legal authority to impose a mask mandate on the traveling public.

The attorneys general are asking that the court immediately ban enforcement of the mask requirement.

The mandate was put in place in February 2021. The Transportation Safety Administration extended the mandate through April 18.

“Faced with a government that displays outright disdain for the limits on its power — especially when it comes to the COVID-19 pandemic — plaintiffs seek vacatur of that mask mandate and a permanent injunction against its enforcement,” the suit states.

The suit names as defendants the leaders of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Transportation Security Administration, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Homeland Security.

Earlier this month, the American Public Transportation Association sent a letter to the Biden administration, asking it to reevaluate the public transportation mask policy.

Last week, officials from 10 airlines also sent a letter to the administration, urging President Joe Biden to end pandemic-related travel policies, including the mask mandate.

The 21 states that filed the suit are Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, Virginia and West Virginia.

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