By Richard Moorhead March 24, 2022 at 2:42pm
Sick of wearing a mask on the plane?
A new lawsuit could make President Joe Biden’s federal travel mask mandate a thing of the past.
The Family Research Council is challenging the mandate in federal court.
The lawsuit named Biden, Transportation Secretary Peter Buttigieg, CDC Director Rachel Walensky and numerous other administration officials as the defendants.
The president of the FRC, Tony Perkins, explained the rationale for the lawsuit in a statement provided to The Western Journal.
“Given what we have learned over the past two years, this overreaching government mask mandate on the 2.9 million Americans who fly on a typical day is not based on science,” Perkins argued.
The lawsuit was filed on Wednesday.
“In some cases, masks have actually proven detrimental to adults and children. Air in airplanes is filtered at a more frequent rate than countless other settings, and it is one of the least conducive environments for the spreading of a virus.”
Is it time to end all mask mandates?
Biden imposed the airline mask mandate the day after he was sworn in as president.
FRC’s suit challenged the federal policy in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, representing two members of their organization and a child.
Ten CEO’s of major airlines urged Biden to finally end the stifling policy in a Wednesday letter.
The industry leaders pointed to the mandate as grounded in pseudoscience.
Airplanes are basically the only major place of accommodation in American life still subject to mask mandates.
Mandates applying to restaurants and theaters have long since been repealed, with only schools still subject to mandates on a wide scale.
“It makes no sense that people are still required to wear masks on airplanes, yet are allowed to congregate in crowded restaurants, schools and at sporting events without masks, despite none of these venues having the protective air filtration system that aircraft do,” the CEO’s argued.
FRC’s suit invoked similar arguments.
With the utility of masks far from clear, the air ventilation system on passenger planes makes COVID-19 transmission less likely than in other places.
Biden hasn’t responded to growing calls to finally end the aircraft mask mandate.
Coronavirus has partially disappeared as a topic of public conversation in 2022, with the omicron variant of the disease considered more mild and causing fewer deaths.
Richard Moorhead is a conservative journalist, a graduate of Arizona State University, service member, and guitar player.