Arizona AG Joins Public Transportation Mask Mandate Fight

ARIZONA — Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich has joined a 21-state coalition challenging the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s public transportation mask mandate.

This is the mandate that requires masking on airplanes, trains and buses.

“This lingering mask mandate is another sad example of government that is out-of-line and out-of-touch,” Brnovich said in a news release. “It’s time to relieve American families of this unconstitutional, ineffective, and ridiculously burdensome policy.”

The CDC issued the mandate in 2021 which requires everyone 2 and older to mask on public transportation and in transportation hubs like airports and train stations.

Those who violate the mask mandate could be criminally penalized.

The attorneys general involved in the suit believe that the mandate exceeds the CDC’s statutory authority.

The states challenging the mandate also argue that it violates the Administrative Procedure Act by failing to consider lesser alternatives, and not following the act's notice and comment requirements.

The attorneys general fighting the mandate also believe that it, "creates new legal requirements with criminal consequences, essentially giving the CDC police power with no oversight."

The goal of the challenge is to stop the mask mandate and to permanently stop its enforcement, according to a news release from Brnovich.

In addition to Arizona, the states involved in the challenge are Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, Virginia and West Virginia.