A Villager’s son is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to enjoin the government from enforcing the Federal Transportation Mask Mandate pending a final resolution of his lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Orlando.
Lucas Wall, 44, of Washington, D.C., sent the application to Justice Clarence Thomas, who oversees federal courts in the 11th Circuit. Wall requests Thomas issue a preliminary injunction against the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, Transportation Security Administration, and other federal agencies to stop the mask mandate everywhere. He needs emergency relief no later than July 16 so he can take a July 17 flight to Germany, a trip he’s already had to postpone twice.
The Supreme Court, in considering an emergency appeal against CDC’s Eviction Moratorium in Alabama Association of Realtors v. HHS, No. 20A169, signaled there are at least five votes to strike down any pandemic order issued beyond the agency’s regulatory, legal, and constitutional authority.
“If this court does not grant me relief, I will have to cancel this and another upcoming trip … until at least September because the District Court has indicated it will not even consider providing any relief until then,” Wall wrote. “This court has issued at least five emergency injunctive orders in the past seven months unequivocally holding that governments may not restrict First Amendment rights even in the name of fighting a pandemic. Today I ask the court to also hold that other constitutional rights – including the freedom to travel, to due process, and states’ rights under the 10th Amendment – also can’t be suspended by the Federal Defendants because of COVID-19.”
Wall, who said he suffers from Generalized Anxiety Disorder, can’t cover his face because it instigates a feeling of a panic attack, including hyperventilating and other breathing trouble. Although the FTMM includes an exemption for people with medical conditions, airlines illegally make it virtually impossible to obtain a waiver, he contends. Wall opposes all mask mandates since many scientific studies released lately show they are totally ineffective at reducing coronavirus spread and masks harm human health.
The case began June 2 when TSA and Southwest Airlines refused to let him board a flight from Orlando to Fort Lauderdale for not wearing a mask despite having submitted the required exemption form. He filed suit June 7, asserting in the first case of its kind that the federal government has no authority to impose a mask mandate. The FTMM took effect Feb. 1 after President Biden signed an executive order Jan. 21 directing CDC and TSA to require face coverings on all forms of transportation nationwide. Congress, however, has never approved the dictate.
“Because of the FTMM, perhaps tens of millions of Americans such as myself who medically can’t tolerate wearing a face mask are banned from using any mode of public transportation anywhere in the country, violating our constitutional right to freedom of movement and our Fifth Amendment right to due process,” Wall wrote in the 92-page application to Thomas arguing 10 distinct ways the mandate is unlawful. “Also, numerous state, local, and regional transportation agencies are required to enforce a federal policy (forcing the fully vaccinated to wear masks) that is in direct conflict with the laws of 49 states, violating the 10th Amendment.”
The District Court denied Wall a temporary restraining order June 15, finding that his inability to fly didn’t cause him irreparable harm even though he doesn’t own a car and relies on public transportation. The FTMM also applies to all buses, trains, and modes other than private vehicle. The Orlando federal court blocked consideration of his two motions for preliminary injunctions June 22 and 29. Wall petitioned the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, which declined June 30 to hear the case at this early stage due to procedural issues.
