Joe Biden suggested that his proposed national mask mandate to combat the coronavirus pandemic would not take the form of any federal mandate at all, declaring that he is a “constitutionalist” that recognizes the limits of presidential authority.
“There’s a question whether or not a president, under the Constitution, could mandate everyone wear a mask,” the former vice president and Democratic presidential nominee said in a press conference on Wednesday. “And remember, all during the primary I’d have a lot of people telling me, ‘I would by executive order do.’ I’m a constitutionalist. You know, you can’t do things the Constitution doesn’t allow you the power to do.”
Biden continued: “What I would be doing is putting as much pressure as I could on every governor, every senator — I mean, excuse me, every mayor, every county executive, every local official, and everyone in business, putting pressure on them to say, ‘What you’re doing is irresponsible. Make sure you wear a mask and maintain social distancing.'”
Biden flaunted the idea of a national mask mandate in his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention two weeks ago.
“We’ll have a national mandate to wear a mask, not as a burden, but as a patriotic duty to protect one another,” Biden said.
The declaration was met with questions about whether the president would have any authority to mandate mask-wearing nationwide and how that would be enforced.
When asked about the legality of a national mask mandate, Biden’s running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris of California, indicated that no one would face federal consequences for not wearing a mask.
“Nobody’s gonna be punished. It’s a standard. Come on. Nobody likes to wear a mask. This is a universal feeling,” Harris said last week. “The point is, this is what we, as responsible people who love our neighbor, we have to just do that right now.”
Biden first brought up the idea of instituting “a mask mandate nationwide” in mid-August, saying that every governor should issue a mandate that says that “every American should be wearing a mask when they’re outside for the next three months at a minimum.”
He dismissed complaints that blanket mask orders infringed individual rights.
“It’s not about your rights. It’s about your responsibilities as an American,” Biden said.
