On Monday, a federal judge struck down the unpopular and ridiculous mask mandate for airplanes and other modes of public transportation.
Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, who sits on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, wrote that “the [mandate] exceeded the CDC’s statutory authority, improperly invoked the good cause exception to notice and comment rulemaking, and failed to adequately explain its decisions. 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 underscored the importance of the government following its administrative responsibilities and that the executive branch may not act arbitrarily.
Alexander Hamilton wrote in Federalist No. 78, “Whoever attentively considers the different departments of power must perceive, that, in a government in which they are separated from each other, the judiciary, from the nature of its functions, will always be the least dangerous to the political rights of the Constitution; because it will be least in a capacity to annoy or injure them.”
Hamilton was correct. Without the judiciary, unelected bureaucrats could make rules without any check on their interpretation of the rule of law.
This isn’t the first time that the judiciary has checked excessive government action in relation to the pandemic. In January, the Supreme Court struck down the vaccine mandate for employers with 100 or more employees. The majority opinion stated, “Although Congress has indisputably given OSHA the power to regulate occupational dangers, it has not given that agency the power to regulate public health more broadly. Requiring the vaccination of 84 million Americans, selected simply because they work for employers with more than 100 employees, certainly falls in the latter category.” Again, the judiciary put the brakes on executive authority.
Mizelle was nominated by then-President Donald Trump and confirmed by a majority-Republican Senate. Not only does the judiciary matter, so too do elections!
Jackson Richman is a journalist in Washington, D.C. Follow him @jacksonrichman.
