Many organizations and cities are taking firm stands against the authoritarian mask mandates renewed by the government.

From Breitbart. President Joe Biden’s “Mask Mandate” on federal airplanes is illegal, a federal judge ruled on Monday in a setback to Biden’s COVID-19 agenda.

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One day after taking office, Biden issued Executive Order (EO) 13998, ordering the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to develop the Mask Mandate, and for various other federal agencies like the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to implement the CDC’s decisions. EO 13998 also covered airports and other public transportation, such as buses….

Monday’s ruling was on one of the earliest cases, filed in July 2021. The lawsuit alleged that the Mask Mandate violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) on three separate grounds: First, that issuing the order is beyond CDC’s statutory authority granted by Congress in 42 U.S.C. § 264a. Second, that the CDC’s action was really a rule (i.e., a regulation) rather than an order, and therefore had to go through a process of public notice and opportunity for public comment before taking effect. And third, that it violates the APA because it is “arbitrary and capricious,” meaning that it was not the result of reasoned decision making….

[Judge Kathryn] Mizelle also held that the CDC did not account for various objections, issues, and evidence opposing the Mask Mandate. This made the Mandate arbitrary and capricious, because “irrespective of whether the CDC made a good or accurate decision, it needed to explain why it acted as it did,” she said.

“Because our system does not permit agencies to act unlawfully even in pursuit of desirable ends, the Court declares unlawful and vacates the Mask Mandate,” Mizelle concluded….

From The Epoch Times. The Biden administration’s mask mandate will not be enforced while federal agencies review a federal judge’s ruling that the mandate was unlawful, an official said Monday as major U.S. airlines and other transportation entities moved to drop the policy.

“The agencies are reviewing the decision and assessing potential next steps. In the meantime, today’s court decision means CDC’s public transportation masking order is not in effect at this time,” a Biden administration official told news outlets on April 18, referring to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said separately that, effective immediately, the agency would stop enforcing its directive that required masks at airports and on planes.

U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, a Trump appointee, ruled earlier Monday that the CDC exceeded its authority with the mask mandate and inappropriately did not seek public comment before imposing the order.

Major airlines, including United Airlines, said they were no longer requiring masks….

Alaska Airlines said in a statement that face masks are “now optional on our planes and in airports” effectively immediately….

Delta Airlines also announced that masks are now optional for employees and customers following the judge’s ruling….

Southwest Airlines and American Airlines issued similar statements following the ruling. Amtrak has also said it will lift mandates for masks, making them optional for guests and employees, as did the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, New Jersey Transit, and other mass transit providers.

A small number of providers, including the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in New York City, are still requiring masks.

Prior to the ruling, the CDC had extended the Biden administration’s transportation mask mandate through May 3 ahead of its scheduled April 18 expiration.

The White House called Judge Mizelle’s ruling “disappointing….”

From Fox Business. Several businesses and residents have filed suit in state court in Pennsylvania seeking to overturn Philadelphia’s renewed indoor mask mandate scheduled to be enforced beginning Monday in an effort to halt a surge in COVID-19 infections.

The lawsuit, filed in Commonwealth Court on Saturday, said Philadelphia lacks the authority to impose such a mandate….

The suit accuses city health officials of having “usurped the power and authority” of state lawmakers, the state department of health and the state advisory health board….

Most states and cities dropped their masking requirements in February and early March following new guidelines from the CDC that put less focus on case counts and more on hospital capacity and said most Americans could safely take off their masks.

Philadelphia had ended its indoor mask mandate March 2. But on Monday Dr. Cheryl Bettigole, the health commissioner, cited a more than 50% rise in confirmed COVID-19 cases in 10 days, the threshold at which the city’s guidelines call for people to wear masks indoors….

The state Supreme Court in December ruled that the governor’s administration had no legal authority to require masks in Pennsylvania’s schools and child care centers, citing state lawmakers’ elimination of an emergency disaster declaration. The 6-0 ruling said state law gives health officials broad authority to protect public health but doesn’t permit the department “to act by whim or fiat in all matters concerning disease.”

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(Excerpts from Breitbart, Fox Business, and The Epoch Times. Photo Credit: Anshu A on Unsplash)