U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle overturned the nation wide mask mandates on airplanes and other forms of public transportation on Monday, ruling that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention acted outside their statutory authority when issuing it.

The Associated Press explains:

The White House said the court ruling means that for now the mask order “is not in effect at this time.”

“This is obviously a disappointing decision,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters. “The CDC is recommending wearing a mask on public transit.”

AP adds:

The judge’s decision freed airlines, airports and mass transit systems to make their own decisions about mask requirements, resulting in a mix of responses.

The major airlines switched to a mask optional policy, with some eliciting cheers from passengers when the changes were announced over loudspeakers. The Transportation Security Administration said Monday night that it would it will no longer enforce the mask requirement, and airports in Houston and Dallas almost immediately did away with their mandates after the TSA announcement.

CBS News notes:

The Trump-nominated judge also wrote that the court “accepts the CDC’s policy determination that requiring masks will limit COVID-19 transmission and will thus decrease the serious illnesses and death that COVID-19 occasions” but “that finding by itself is not sufficient to establish good cause.” 

Mizelle’s courtroom is in Tampa, Florida. She was nominated to the bench by then President Donald Trump in 2020 when she was just 33 years old. The American Bar Association rated her as “not qualified,” noting that she had only participated in two trials during her brief career and she was an intern in both cases.

Her lifetime appointment to the bench was confirmed by the GOP-controlled Senate just two weeks after Trump lost the 2020 election, a rare move during a lame duck session.

The Daily Beast reports:

She is married to Chad Mizelle, who faced similar questions about his youth and inexperience last year when his friend and ally at the White House, Stephen Miller, smoothed the way for him to become the acting general counsel at the Department of Homeland Security, leading DHS’ legal office of 2,500 attorneys just six years after graduating from law school.