They don’t seem to like that the Constitutionally created Judicial Branch can hold the Executive Branch to account
W.H. COVID Response Coordinator: Decisions on Protecting Health Shouldn’t Be Decided by Courts
On Thursday’s broadcast of “PBS NewsHour,” White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha commented on the CDC’s transportation mask mandate being struck down in court by stating that “decisions like how we protect the health of the American people should be decided by public health scientists and our public health agencies like the CDC and not by a federal judge.”
Jha said, “I think there are a couple of points here that are worth mentioning: First, decisions like how we protect the health of the American people should be decided by public health scientists and our public health agencies like the CDC and not by a federal judge. In terms of legal strategy and legal issues, the Department of Justice, their lawyers felt very clearly that the CDC had acted within its powers, and that’s why they appealed. And the administration and the legal experts around the country are confident that the CDC was acting lawfully and that, eventually, the CDC will win this case.”
He added, “[I]t is absolutely essential that CDC have this ability, whether it’s for the rest of this pandemic or for future health crises. It is essential that CDC have the ability to put in rules that are going to protect the traveling public. They’ve had that rule for — that authority for decades, and it’s essential that we continue that. That’s one of the reasons why the Department of Justice filed this appeal, to preserve that authority for the CDC.”
They may feel that they have that power, but, a member of the federal court said they do not. Not without going through proper rule making steps. And maybe not even then. They do not have the power to arbitrarily impose mask mandates on American citizens, especially not while also claiming that it’s fine to remove Title 42 and allow illegal aliens to pass into the United States.
But, see, this isn’t about the killed off mask mandate, this is about being to arbitrarily impose future measures. The pandemic is over. It is almost always a low level bit of news now. Go to the Washington Post, NY Times, LA Times, CBS News, CNN, and so many others, and COVID is way, way down the page. Other than perhaps a piece on Philly killing it’s mask mandate days after reinstating it, some have no news. Nothing at ABC News. NBC News has a COVID link on the top bar still. It’s just not a big deal anymore. But, the CDC/White House want the ability to dictate how people live if anything happens.
NEWS: CDC recommends Justice Department repeal judge’s order eliminating mask mandate for air travel.
Appeal should be successful, but if not the consequences could be significant, potentially preventing later public health measures.
— Andy Slavitt ???????? ???????? (@ASlavitt) April 20, 2022
Slavitt is Biden’s former Wuhan Flu advisor, and, beside the reality that the DOJ cannot simply repeal a judge’s order (was this a misstatement, or, do these people really think the Executive Branch can simply do whatever the hell they want?), he believes the CDC should be able to do whatever they want whenever they want, regardless of the law, regardless of the Constitution.
[…] Pirates Cove asks if the left’s sick fascination with Mask Mandates will ever end […]
It shouldn’t be a problem. All the court said was that CDC didn’t have that authority. Congress can easily correct that by granting them the authority, in a bill, signed by the Presidential autopen. The courts did not say Government should not have that authority, only that congress never gave it to the CDC. That’s how things work in our system of government. This should be an easy fix with Democrat holding both houses of Congress and the White house. They should be able to throw something together by close of business today and get it on the president’s desk by Monday. …If they wanted to.
Our esteemed host wrote:
And that’s not because a wise federal judge said so, but because the public have become so tired of all of this [insert slang term for feces here] that disobedience was rampant.
You noted that the City of Brotherly Love cancelled its indoor mask mandate. Not only did that happen, but it happened early; such decisions are normally taken in a Monday morning meeting, not Thursday afternoon. They bagged the mask mandate because it was being widely ignored, and because, with Democrats fearing a poor outcome in the November elections, the Democrats running Philadelphia don’t want to piss off the voters even more. The city government will remain under Democratic control, but they could lose a couple of congresscritters.
Of course, the airline mask mandate was different, because there is an armed federal agent on the flight, a situation in which the ‘offender’ cannot get away, and potential fines in the tens of thousands of dollars, along with the threat of incarceration. On the planes, people were reluctantly complying because they had no choice.