- DeSantis called DOJ's decision to appeal over the mask mandate "totally outrageous."
- Florida sued to have the mandates on transit struck down.
- "There should be no mandates, period," DeSantis said.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis criticized the Biden administration on Thursday over its plans to appeal a judge's ruling that stuck down mask mandates on airplanes and other public transit.
"There should be no mandates, period. None," DeSantis said at an event in Destin, Florida.
Florida was among several states that sued the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention over its mask mandate on public transit. The rule applied to buses, trains, and airplanes, but on Monday a federal judge appointed by then-President Donald Trump struck it down, saying the CDC didn't have the authority to impose it.
After the ruling, airlines quickly moved to making masks optional, as did Uber and Lyft. Several videos circulated on social media showing relieved passengers and flight attendants shedding their masks, a trend DeSantis brought attention to on Thursday.
"It will be totally outrageous if they appeal this decision," he said.
"Part of the reason they are doing it is because they like to exercise power over the people they govern," he added.
The Department of Justice has said that it will appeal the decision to the US Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit to reinstate the mask mandate given that the CDC said the mandate was "necessary" to protect public health. If it gets struck down again, it could head before the Supreme Court.
Many people in the medical community have been alarmed by the ruling and people who are immunocompromised or who have children too young to be vaccinated took to social media to lament the decision.
Yet the DOJ's decision to appeal is politically and legally fraught. If the mandate is struck down by a higher court then it could set a precedent that limits how far public health agencies can go in setting safety rules during future public health crises. Currently, parts of the US are seeing a rise in the BA.2 subvariant.
On the other hand, the Biden administration has been trying to project a "new normal" in the US in which people who are vaccinated can shed their masks at other indoor spaces. The change is largely driven by the impending midterms and signals from a COVID-weary public.
President Joe Biden plans to attend the White House Correspodents Association Dinner in Washington, DC, even though a previous media dinner known as the Gridiron Dinner turned into a superspreader event that sickened members of the Biden Cabinet with COVID-19.
DeSantis called out the different masking standards on Thursday, saying it was strange to not force masks in other parts of society but keep them on planes.
"You will have somebody sitting in an aisle seat and they will put the mask down and fake nibble on peanuts for two hours so they don't have to have a covering so they can breathe freely. And it's all a charade," he said. "I understand why they do it. But then if someone is right next to them and they just want to breathe freely and read a magazine, somehow that's a problem?"
DeSantis has seen his star power grow in the Republican Party following his high-profile battles with the Biden administration, particularly over differences in managing the COVID-19 pandemic. He's up for reelection in Florida this November, though many GOP political insiders believe that he'll run for president in 2024, particularly if Trump decides against a comeback bid.
On Thursday, DeSantis warned Democrats would return to mask mandates after the election and encouraged people not to vote for them.
"People inclined to lockdown policies will absolutely try to do it again," he said.