WVNS

AG Morrisey files suit to support ending unlawful CDC mandate

CHARLESTON, WV (WVNS) — West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, along with 22 states recently joined a multistate effort to ask the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit that a ruling by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “to require that virtually all persons wear masks while traveling” is wrong and lacks authority.

“The U.S. District Court Middle District of Florida made the correct decision, ruling the CDC’s nationwide mask mandate in public transportation was unlawful. This is another case of a federal agency overstepping its boundaries and deciding what should be left to state and local governments to decide.”

Attorney General Morrisey

The brief that was filed to the court argues that the Center for Disease Control and Prevention is demanding an unlawful ruling that goes beyond its own authority in several different ways, one of which states, that “the CDC grounds its authority to issue a mask mandate in its power to require ‘sanitation’ measures under 42 U.S.C. § 264(a),” which they aren’t able to support.

In addition, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention cannot demand that travelers be examined without evidence of a disease that they may or may not carry. The ruling goes against that saying a visual inspection of travelers is required without any suspicion of disease.

The Attorney General’s brief also argues that the ruling does not work because it failed to go through notice and comment procedures.

The ruling from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is unjustified and insensible, saying the ruling goes against its own regulations and beliefs, which the brief describes, “CDC regulations say that it cannot act unless it finds local measures inadequate. But here, CDC never even studied local measures, much less developed a method to determine whether those measures are adequate.”

Attorney General Morrisey joined the Florida-led brief with Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and Virginia.