In an April ruling, Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida stated that the CDC circumvented the law in issuing a travel mask mandate. Her ruling overturned the federal requirement that all U.S. travelers be masked. However, despite the mandates lacking any sound science for preventing viral transfer, the Biden Administration appealed the decision in the U.S. Court of Appeals, 11th district. Health Freedom Defense Fund (HFDF), which was the group that originally challenged the mandate, has subsequently filed a 77-page response with the court.
The response, which was filed in partnership with attorneys from the Davillier Law Group, reiterates that the authority for a mandate requiring all travelers to wear masks is not established in any federal statute and also that implementing such a mandate violates existing federal law.
In a statement, HFDF Founder and President Leslie Manookian said:
“The Biden Administration is trying to paper over an illegal, sweeping mandate on Americans that is full of massive legal and scientific holes. That a federal agency should be able to just usurp the power of Congress, and violate fundamental individual rights, is not only at odds with the law—it defies basic common sense.”
Leslie Manookian, director of the Health Freedom Defense Fund
Manookian also said that despite lacking the legal or scientific standing to re-issue its mask mandate, the Biden Administration wants to reinstate its sweeping, unprecedented powers over Americans’ daily lives and conduct.
Beyond pointing out the illegality of mask mandates, the Appellate Court response filed by HFDF demonstrates the government’s COVID-19 actions, including halting rental evictions and shutting down the cruise ship industry, were “extraordinary measures unprecedented in scope.”
CDC Claimed Authority Over Individuals
Prior to COVID-19, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a federal agency that’s been in existence since the 1940s in some form or another, had never claimed any authority over the life or conduct of any person—let alone the entire population. Their actions to place mandates on the nation were rightly challenged and overturned.
According to a statement released by HFDF, specific points in their court filing detail how the CDC:
- Invented a strained legal justification of a national health emergency a year after the pandemic started, merely because the White House changed hands.
- Selectively and erroneously cherry-picked parts of existing statutes to justify its order – while ignoring other relevant parts of the very same statutes.
- Illegally bypassed the fundamental requirements for adequate public notice and public comment prior to issuing its mandate.
- Created an arbitrary and capricious order not rooted in sound science or actual efforts to combat COVID-19. The order required travelers to don a medical device but lacked efforts to identify sick individuals or stop the spread of COVID-19 across state lines.
Dangerous Precedent
HFDF’s filing points out that if the CDC’s invented authority is given court authorization, the CDC’s ability to govern the daily lives of Americans would be virtually unlimited, justified by any future “health emergency.” This could include requirements for diet, exercise, good hygiene, vaccination, and even the mandatory use of prophylactics to prevent venereal disease.
“Our concern goes well beyond the requirement for masks on planes, trains, and buses,” Manookian said. “Allowing a federal agency to just invent sweeping powers without any anchor in law and then bypass the requirement for public notice and comment means that the bureaucracy can do whatever it wishes as long as it hangs out the fig leaf of an emergency.”
The case is Health Freedom Defense Fund, Inc., et al., v. Joseph R. Biden, et al., Case No. 8:21-cv-1693 (M.D. Fla.)
Dr. Daniel Bobinski hosts the weekly Keep the Republic TV show on Brighteon.TV, as well as the Saturday morning, Keep the Republic show on BrighteonRadio.com. Daniel is also the founder and editor of True Idaho News.
