Analysis: Judge’s Ruling on the CDC Mask Mandate Highlights the Limits of the Agency’s Power

Judge’s Ruling on the CDC Mask Mandate Highlights the Limits of the Agency’s Power A recent court decision that overturns one of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s few pandemic rules — masks required on public transportation — spotlights how little power remains in … khndamond Kaiser Health News

The role that the federal government plays in containing future epidemics will hinge on the outcome of an appeal of this week’s court ruling that overturned the mask mandate for travelers on airlines, trains, and the nation’s mass transit systems.

A federal court judge in Florida said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had overstepped its authority in requiring masks on public transportation, a mandate that legal experts considered well within the bounds of the agency’s charge to prevent the spread of covid-19 across the nation.

The CDC said late Wednesday that it had asked the Department of Justice to appeal the decision — a move the DOJ left up to the agency. That will put the issue before one of the nation’s most conservative-leaning appellate courts, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Public health experts worry the ruling, unless overturned, will hamper the agency’s ability to respond to future outbreaks.

“If CDC can’t impose an unintrusive requirement to wear a mask to prevent a virus from going state to state, then it literally has no power to do anything,” said public health law expert Lawrence Gostin, faculty director of the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University. 

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