South Carolina Attorney General joins lawsuit against CDC mask mandate

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) - South Carolina’s Attorney General Alan Wilson announced Tuesday he is joining a twenty state complaint against the Center for Disease Control (CDC). The coalition is asking the court system to rule against the CDC’s mask mandate on public transportation and prevent it from being enforced in the future.

Wilson said, “The chief executives of the major airlines are calling on President Biden to allow the mask mandate at airports and on planes to expire next month and they know what’s best for their passengers and employees. Even the president himself said in his State of the Union address a few weeks ago that, ‘Covid-19 need no longer control our lives.”

The complaint argues the agency is exceeding their authority in several ways. It claims the justification for the mandate does not give it economy-wide measures.

The second argument says the CDC can only authorize rules directly related to preventing the spread of disease, but does not permit it to apply mask requirements on individuals showing no sign of infection.

The following states have joined the complaint: Florida, Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia and West Virginia.

Florida’s Attorney General Ashley Moody filed the document in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida. We have embedded the full document below.

Mask Complaint as Filed by Nevin Smith on Scribd

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