[Oct. 31, 2022 ] On Monday the Supreme Court left in place a ruling that allows the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to issue mask mandates on planes, trains and other forms of transport, as it had for more than a year during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Supreme Court denied a California attorney’s request to overturn a U.S. Court of Appeals ruling in the D.C. Circuit from December, which found no merit in his claim and affirmed that the TSA does have the authority to maintain security and safety within the transportation system, including imposing the masking requirement.
California attorney Jonathan Corbett had claimed that the TSA did not have the authority to mandate masks on airlines and other types of transportation during the Covid-19 pandemic. The Court of Appeals had disagreed, ruling that the agency “plainly has the authority” to address transportation safety and security.
“Because we find no merit in Corbett’s claim, we deny the petition for review,” the Court wrote. “The Covid-19 global pandemic poses one of the greatest threats to the operational viability of the transportation system and the lives of those on it seen in decades.” The TSA stopped enforcing the mask mandate in April, hours after a federal judge struck down the federal mask mandate for public transportation, which had been due to expire weeks later.