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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowIndiana Attorney General Todd Rokita has joined a federal lawsuit filed by the state of Florida seeking to repeal the federal mandate requiring individuals to wear masks when traveling by public modes of transportation including airplanes, trains, road vehicles and ships.
The lawsuit, State of Florida, et al. v. Rochelle P. Walensky, et al., 8:22-cv-00718, was filed in federal court March 29 by Florida and 20 other states led by Republican attorneys general.
In the 31-page complaint, the plaintiffs assert the mask mandate is harmful because states are having to expend resources to enforce masking while potentially facing criminal and civil penalties if they do not comply.
In addition to asking the court to set aside the mandate, the plaintiffs want the mandate declared unlawful and the Biden administration enjoined from enforcing the mask requirement.
Rokita announced Tuesday his decision to join the Florida lawsuit, describing the legal action as liberating travelers.
“Despite their repeated defeats in courts of law, power-obsessed leftists continue trying to impose federal mask and vaccine mandates,” Indiana’s top attorney said in a news release. “Here in Indiana, we continue fighting for American liberty at every turn.”
Indiana has recorded 22,450 deaths from COVID-19 since March 2020, according to the Indiana Department of Health. About 3.7 million Hoosiers are fully vaccinated.
The lawsuit relies on the U.S. Supreme Court’s Aug. 26, 2021, ruling in Alabama Association of Realtors v. HHS (Alabama Association of Realtors II), 141, S. Ct. 2485 (2021), which overturned the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s moratorium on evictions. Previously, a slim majority had upheld the moratorium, but when the CDC reinstated the prohibition and extended it to October 2021, the Supreme Court found the agency has exceeded its authority.
In January 2021, the CDC first issued the requirement that travelers wear masks while on public transportation and at transportation hubs. The agency announced in March that the mandate was being extended to April 18.
Echoing the Supreme Court’s Alabama II decision, the Florida lawsuit deconstructs the Public Health Service Act, 42 U.S.C. § 264, and asserts the federal government has exceed its power in shutting down the cruise ship industry for more than a year, issuing the eviction moratoriums and instituting mask mandates.
The Sunshine State argues that while the first sentence under the federal statute gives the CDC the authority to make and enforce regulations to control the spread of communicable diseases, the second sentence limits that authority. Specifically, Florida contends, the authority is relegated to “inspection, fumigation, disinfection, sanitation, pest extermination, destruction of animals or articles found to be so infected or contaminated.”
Among their claims, the plaintiffs maintain the mask mandate violates the Administrative Procedure Act and 42 C.F.R. § 70.2, which requires the federal government to consider the adequacy of state and local measures before issuing measures itself.
Also, in an alternative argument in case the court finds the federal statutes doe allow for mask mandates, the plaintiffs assert violations of the commerce clause and 10th Amendment.
A day after the complaint was filed, a Notice of Related Actions was submitted to the court. The notice identified one lawsuit that challenged the CDC’s conditional sailing order and five that countered the mask mandate.
The CDC had not filed any response or attorney appearances with the court at Indiana Lawyer deadline.
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