For the first time, after fastidiously avoiding writing about politics when it came to the federal mask mandate debate, I’m writing about politics and the federal mask mandate debate.
Strap in.
It’s not that I didn’t believe the mask mandate wasn’t political prior to this. Of course it was. To be frank, I just didn’t buy the whole “You’re taking away my personal freedoms!” argument especially when they were backed up by the cowardly acts of violence against flight attendants.
But now that a federal judge in Tampa, Fla., on Monday has voided the federal mask mandate, it’s a political hot potato with one basic question to ponder:
Will the Biden Administration even bother fighting this?
There are two schools of thought here, one more immediate and the other more long-term.
As I write this close to Noon on Tuesday, a day after the judge’s ruling, The White House has been mum other than press secretary Jen Psaki calling the decision to overturn the mandate “disappointing.” Moreover, the administration and the Department of Justice had all afternoon on Monday and all morning today to file an appeal.
So far they haven’t, which makes me wonder – after all the lobbying the airlines have done to have the mandate removed, after all the violent incidents by unruly passengers in which nearly three-quarters of them were mask-related, will Biden just use this ruling as an out? Will he try to save face and just say that the government was prepared to lift the mandate anyway when it came up for expiration again on May 3?
It’s possible. But therein lies the longer-term political issue. The current administration, and the Democratic party in general, runs the risk of letting this pass and, therefore, tacitly admitting that they basically just had their lunch served to them by a 35-year-old judge appointed by Donald Trump. A judge who, by the way, was rated as “Not Qualified” for the position by a majority of the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee due to “the short time she has actually practiced law and her lack of meaningful trial experience,” according to USA Today.
Talk about a talking point, right?
Tell me that wouldn’t come up somewhere in the next two-plus years because, well, let me tell you, if it was me, I’d be shouting that from the nearest airport that a lone judge had the you-know-what to take on the federal government.
And won.
Where it goes from here is unknown. It’s probably fair to say that a good portion of fliers are thrilled that the 15-month-old mask mandate has been lifted. But it’s also true that there’s a sizeable and vocal portion of travelers who will still wear masks and are apprehensive about being on a full, congested plane – no matter how many strides the airlines have made with health advancements such as HEPA filters.
One thing is for sure, however. If the federal mask mandate was political before, now it’s political on steroids.
