AG Moody Leads States in Filed Brief Against CDC Mask Mandate

August 9, 2022 Updated 2:47 P.M. ET

TALLAHASSEE (FLV) – Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody led a 23-state coalition in filing a brief arguing that the CDC’s mask mandate exceeds the agency’s authority and does not allow each state to enact its own public health rules.

“The American people and our courts have rejected the federal government’s unlawful mask mandate for air travel. It’s astonishing that Biden continues to fight to force mask passengers,” Moody said. “We are once again pushing back, in court, against his unlawful federal overreach.”

The brief supports the plaintiff in Health Freedom Defense Fund Inc. vs. Joseph R. Biden, Jr., President of the United States. Moody said the district court correctly vacated the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s interstate travel mask mandate in this case.

Moody said the CDC grounded its mask mandate authority from “sanitation” measures. However, the attorney general said that authority cannot support the mandate.

“Additionally, according to the statute, CDC cannot demand that domestic travelers be examined without evidence that they are carrying disease—but that is what this mandate requires, a visual inspection of every traveler without any individualized suspicion,” a Moody press release said.

The brief also argues that the mandate is invalid because it failed to go through notice and comment procedures. It suggests the CDC rule is arbitrary and capricious.

Attorney General Moody is joined by the attorneys general of the following states in filing the brief: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia and West Virginia.

To read the full brief, click here.

Attorney General Moody and 21 other states took action against the same CDC mask mandate on public transportation. The attorneys general argued that the mandate exceeded the CDC’s authority and was based on a failed interpretation of a quarantine statute that has been rejected in court. A U.S. district judge vacated the federal mandate in April.