End Bloomington Transit's mask mandate

Lesser magistrates must resist the federal government's rebellion against the Tenth Amendment

Note: I submitted this to the Herald-Times on March 25, 2022.

To the Editor:

Indiana has finally ended its "emergency" order regarding COVID-19. State government abolished the mask mandate last summer, and county government dropped its mask mandate in early March. But masks are still required on Bloomington Transit buses, despite the fact that mass transit is not connected to the spread of the novel coronavirus. See https://bit.ly/36LpM72 and https://bit.ly/3usuezS for more.

Furthermore, as COVID-19 has become more contagious, cloth masks are little more than a decoration at this point.

This mandate remains in place because the federal government exceeded its constitutional authority and mandated masking on a city bus system. The federal government is not granted this power in our constitution, and the Tenth Amendment restricts these powers to the states.

It is time for city government to discipline the federal government's overreach by refusing to comply with the mask mandate. President Biden's rebellion against the rule of law must be opposed by lesser magistrates in order to restore our constitutional balance of power.

If the city council believes in the mask mandate, then they should pass an ordinance mandating masks on city buses and enforce it as a city ordinance. Let the council and Mayor Hamilton take responsibility for this policy themselves.