US appeals court vacates travel mask mandate ruling

A U.S. appeals court panel Thursday vacated an April 2022 ruling that had declared unlawful a government order requiring masks on airplanes and other transportation modes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Justice Department had asked 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to declare the issue moot after President Joe Biden ended the COVID-19 public health emergency in May. "There is not a grain of evidence that the CDC has any plans to promulgate an identical mandate," the court ruled.