A conservative evangelical group is suing President Biden in federal court to overturn his administration’s mask mandate for U.S. air travel.
The Family Research Council filed the complaint Wednesday night in U.S. District Court in northern Texas, where two of its members live.
Mr. Biden issued an executive order requiring face masks on airplanes shortly after taking office in January 2021, at a time when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention called for the mandate on all public transportation because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The administration recently extended the requirement to April 18 while it considers ways to end it.
The suit against Mr. Biden cites research suggesting that airplanes are at a lower risk of COVID-19 spread than bars, theaters, gyms and restaurants.
It questions the logic of airlines continuing to need face masks that those venues no longer insist upon.
“As researchers have now had ample opportunity to test the effectiveness of wearing masks as part of combating the spread of COVID-19, studies show that masks are actually ineffective, particularly the cloth masks and surgical masks commonly worn,” the complaint states.
The suit asks the court to place a nationwide preliminary and permanent injunction on the Biden administration’s executive order that requires masks on flights.
The White House did not respond on Friday to a request for comment.
FRC President Tony Perkins, who is representing his young son in the case, said he does not want to wear a mask on flights that his family plans to take before April 18.
Mr. Perkins said in a statement that an estimated 2.9 million Americans who fly each day are in little danger of contracting COVID-19 on planes, where air “is filtered at a more frequent rate than countless other settings.”
“The Biden administration, along with a number of other local governments across the country, has exploited the COVID pandemic, used it to suffocate our freedoms unnecessarily, and in some cases target churches and people of faith,” he said.
The lawsuit comes as airline CEOs and some congressional Republicans have renewed calls on the Biden administration to end the airplane mandate.
The CEOs of Alaska Air, Atlas Air, American Airlines, Delta, FedEx Express, Hawaiian Airlines, JetBlue, Southwest, United, UPS Airlines and Airlines for America signed a letter to Mr. Biden on Wednesday.
“It makes no sense that people are still required to wear masks on airplanes, yet are allowed to congregate in crowded restaurants, schools and at sporting events without masks, despite none of these venues having the protective air filtration system that aircraft do,” the CEOs wrote in their letter.
U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler, Missouri Republican, has led the effort on Capitol Hill to have the mandate rescinded.
“Now that we know we can safely live with COVID-19, it is past time to restore American freedoms and personal responsibility by ending this unnecessary mask mandate on public transportation,” Mrs. Hartzler says in a statement posted on her website.
During his first State of the Union on March 1, Mr. Biden said, “most Americans can remove their masks, return to work, stay in the classroom and move forward safely.”
That same day, the CDC said, “more than 98 percent of the U.S. population now lives in an area where the CDC advises that indoor masking is not a necessary preventative measure.”
Many cities and local governments have since ended their mask requirements for indoor events.
But on March 10, the U.S. Department of Transportation extended the public transportation mask requirement by one more month to April 18.
“During that time, CDC will work with government agencies to help inform a revised policy framework for when, and under what circumstances, masks should be required in the public transportation corridor,” the Department of Transportation said in a statement.
“This revised framework will be based on the COVID-19 community levels, risk of new variants, national data, and the latest science,” it added.
