(Mark Pellin, Headline USA) Displaying an alarming degree of authoritarianism that exceeded even his usual royal edicts, COVID Czar Anthony Fauci on Thursday declared that partisan definitions of science concocted by experts like himself should trump the rule of law.
In response to a federal district judge’s ruling that the Biden administration’s dictatorial mask mandate for airlines, trains and public transit was “unlawful,” Fauci said he was “both surprised and disappointed,” with the legal decision “because those types of things really are the purview of the CDC.”
“This is a public health issue, and for a court to come in — and if you look at the rationale for that, it really is not particularly firm,” Fauci said.
It seemed firm enough to US District Court Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, who wrote that the “mandate exceeded the CDC statutory authority.”
“Because our system does not permit agencies to act unlawfully even in the pursuit of desirable ends, the court declares unlawful and vacates the mask mandate,” Mizelle wrote.
“Great to see a federal judge in Florida follow the law and reject the Biden transportation mask mandate,” Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis said in response to the ruling. “Both airline employees and passengers deserve to have this misery end.”
Fauci apparently regards the misery of the public he is supposed to serve as contemptuously as he does the law he is sworn to follow.
The self-proclaimed voice and conscience of science discarded Mizelle’s ruling as little more than trifling legal mumbo-jumbo and declared the law of COVID should reign supreme.
“And we are concerned about that, about courts getting involved in things that are unequivocally a public health decision,” Fauci said.
“I mean this is a CDC issue. It should not have been a court issue.”
Fauci doubled-down on his rhetoric during an interview with CBS News, when he conceded that while the CDC might actually have to follow the law, “the principle of a court overruling a public health judgement by a qualified organization…is disturbing in the precedent it might send.”
The COVID czar’s imperial arrogance drew equal parts alarm and ridicule.
“The only ‘dangerous precedent’ is Fauci thinking he has unlimited power,” tweeted Abigail Marone, press secretary for Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo.
Absolutely insane. Fauci is saying that unelected CDC bureaucrats should be able to impose their will on the country without question or pushback. Just nuts. https://t.co/C3PATKuUXk
— Abigail Marone 🇺🇸 (@abigailmarone) April 21, 2022
“The CDC does not have unlimited power and is subject to judicial review by the courts, just like any other part of the executive branch,” said the DC Examiner’s Jerry Dunleavy.
