Here’s the thing about today’s court ruling over masks on airplanes
Even though a rogue federal judge has incorrectly struck down the CDC’s public transportation mask mandate today, it’ll likely be reinstated by an appeals court. The big question is whether reinstatement will come immediately, in the form of a stay, or later on after the case is heard. These kinds of legally improper “activist” lower court rulings rarely hold up on appeal.
Another question is whether the airlines themselves will choose to keep mask requirements in place, knowing that they’ll likely go back to being legally mandated days or weeks from now. Do they want to go through the hassle of dropping and then, just days later, reinstating mask requirements? We’ll see.
But much of the media will falsely characterize today’s ruling as if it’ll automatically succeed no matter what, appeals courts don’t exist, masks are over, Biden has lost, and the Democrats are doomed. Why report reality, when this kind of doomsday fiction is better for ratings?
The media is already focusing heavily on the fact that this ruling came from a Trump-appointed judge who was rated “Not Qualified” by the “American Bar Association.” It’s a reminder of just how openly corrupt Trump and his Republican Party are. But keep in mind that idly lamenting over this kind of thing doesn’t accomplish anything. If we want to do something about it, we can use the unfitness of Trump-GOP appointed judges as a rallying cry to get mainstream Americans to turn out and vote Democrat in the midterms. After all, we have to keep the Senate in order for President Biden to be able to keep getting federal judges confirmed.
Some airline CEOs have publicly hinted they’d like to be done with mask mandates for good. But that’s a very different situation from today’s ruling, which they know is likely to be temporary. CEOs understand that appeals court exists, even if the media pretends it doesn’t. We’ll see what happens. Today’s ruling is not good. But these kinds of lower court rulings are usually the start of the legal battle, not the end of them.
