Before her appointment, the Bar Association considered the lawyer to be “unqualified” and referred to her lack of expertise.
(Photo: Private)
new York It was a judgment with immediate and far-reaching consequences. On Monday afternoon, US federal judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle ruled that the nationwide mask requirement on public transport was illegal and therefore had to be lifted. Some passengers and flight attendants took off their masks on the plane and cheered.
Shortly thereafter, the transport authority TSA announced that it would no longer control the wearing of masks. The following now applies to all American airlines: the mask on the plane is voluntary. “Whoever wears a well-fitting mask protects himself, even when others around him or her are not wearing a mask,” Delta said.
The 35-year-old Republican has thus catapulted herself to the forefront of an intense and often politically-led debate. Just a week ago, the CDC epidemic authority extended the mask requirement until the beginning of May, with reference to the rapidly increasing number of infections.
The Democrats around US President Joe Biden are in favor of wearing face masks on public transport and have long ignored the pressure from Republicans who want to abolish the mask requirement. An interest group had sued against the mask requirement, and Mizelle now agreed with her.
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For Mizelle it is the most far-reaching judgment of her career. The judge was appointed for life by then-US President Donald Trump in 2020. Trump’s decision was controversial. Before her appointment, the Bar Association considered Mizelle “unqualified” and referred to her lack of expertise.
It is customary to have 12 years of experience as a lawyer before being appointed. Mizelle only got eight and had only accompanied a process as an intern instead of leading one herself, as the chamber complained.
Semantic details in Mizelle’s reasoning
In her verdict, the judge relied mainly on semantic details. The epidemic authorities have stated that wearing masks is also necessary for cleaning purposes, among other things.
Micelle relied on a definition that combines purification with the removal of harmful pathogens. “Wearing a mask doesn’t clean anything at all,” she wrote in her justification on Monday. “At best it does trap virus droplets, but it doesn’t make the mask wearer cleaner or the overall carriage.”
However, other judges have referred to other definitions, including preventing disease by maintaining sanitary standards.
“This is obviously a very disappointing decision,” Biden’s press secretary Jen Psaki said. Biden’s government could appeal the verdict. It was still unclear whether that would happen.
The BA.2 subvariant is even more contagious than the already highly contagious Omicron variant. The number of infections in the United States has risen by 43 percent in the past 14 days.
More: These stores are now continuing to call for the mask