DOJ asks court to reinstate COVID mask mandate on public transportation

The Department of Justice on Tuesday asked a federal appeals court to overturn a district judge's ruling that ended the Biden administration's transportation mask mandate, Reuters reported.

Shortly after the a Florida judge struck down the mandate in April, the DOJ signaled it would file an appeal if the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention deemed masks necessary.

The judge found in April that the transportation mask mandate, which applied to airline and train passengers as young as 2-years-old, was unlawful.

In an appeal filed hours before the deadline, the Justice Department argued that the CDC's 2021 mask mandate was "within" the health agency's legal authority.

"None of the district court's quarrels with the CDC order comes close to showing that the CDC has acted outside the 'zone of reasonableness,'" the DOJ wrote, according to Reuters.

The department said that the CDC's findings in 2021 provided "ample support for the agency's determination that there was good cause to make the order effective without delay."