On April 18, a federal judge in Florida struck down the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s mask requirement on airplanes, trains, buses, and other public transportation. In a 59-page opinion, Judge Mizelle stated that the CDC had exceeded its legal authority under relevant federal law, including the 1944 Public Health Services Act, and failed to follow administrative procedure rules. The decision further vacated the mask mandate on a nationwide basis. The U.S. Department of Justice plans to appeal the decision. Michael Dorf of Cornell Law School and Adam White of the American Enterprise Institute join us for a discussion about the legal arguments on both sides of the decision, and a broader debate about nationwide injunctions—when a single district court judge blocks a law or government regulation on a national scale. Jeffrey Rosen moderates.
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This episode was produced by Melody Rowell and engineered by Dave Stotz. Research was provided by Kevin Closs, Sam Desai, and Lana Ulrich.
Participants
Adam White is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and co-director of George Mason University’s Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State. Last year President Biden appointed him to the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States.
Michael Dorf is the Robert S. Stevens Professor of Law at Cornell Law School. He also writes a bi-weekly column for Justia's web magazine Verdict, and posts several times per week on his own blog, Dorf on Law.
Jeffrey Rosen is the president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization devoted to educating the public about the U.S. Constitution. Rosen is also professor of law at The George Washington University Law School and a contributing editor of The Atlantic.
Additional Resources
- Judge Mizelle’s decision in Health Freedom Defense Fund v. Biden
- A statement from the Department of Justice on the ruling in Health Freedom Defense Fund v. Biden
- Adam White on The Commentary Magazine Podcast
- “Textualism Masks Ideological Opposition to the Administrative State,” by Michael Dorf on Verdict
TRANSCRIPT
This transcript may not be in its final form, accuracy may vary, and it may be updated or revised in the future.
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