Fauci crushed for saying it's 'disturbing' that a U.S. court can overrule the CDC

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, Thursday, Nov. 4, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Dr. Anthony Fauci took major heat after lamenting on Thursday that it was "disturbing" that a federal court would rule against the CDC’s COVID-19 travel mask mandate, adding his opinion that "This is not a judicial matter."

Prominent conservative Twitter users crushed Fauci for his "stupidity", with many accusing the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director of thinking he and the CDC "are above the law," and of being "hell bent on using Covid to control people."

Fauci’s irksome comments happened during a Thursday interview with CBS News about U.S. District Court Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle striking down the travel mask mandate on Monday. 

During the segment on the streaming show "Red & Blue," CBS anchor Robert Costa asked Fauci, "Do you personally agree or disagree with her interpretation of public health law?"

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Dr. Anthony Fauci, White House Chief Medical Advisor and Director of the NIAID, participates in the White House COVID-19 Response Team's regular call with the National Governors Association in the South Court Auditorium in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House Campus, Monday, Dec. 27, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) 

Fauci responded, "Well, I clearly disagree, I mean those types of things should be decided as a public health issue by the public health organizations, in this case the CDC. This is a public health matter, not a judicial matter."

"So, obviously the CDC will abide by the order of the court because it’s a legal obligation," he continued. "But one of the problems that we have there is that the principle of a court overruling a public health judgment by a qualified organization like the CDC is disturbing in the precedent in might send," Fauci concluded.

Rep. Dan Bishop, R-N.C., responded on Twitter, "What’s ‘disturbing’ is that Fauci and the bureaucrats think they are above the law."

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Conservative radio host Mark Davis tweeted, "Stupidity or willful blindness?  The #CDC is entitled to whatever opinions it wishes; it does not have right to impose them through law into the interiors of aircraft." 

He added, "This is why #JudgeMizelle was right; none of this is about anyone’s view of masks.  It’s about the rule of law."

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, R-W.V., tweeted, "Fauci may want to take a little time and review the Constitution and the case law. The CDC must follow the law just like any other agency or person." 

Morrisey then wrote, "We must fight against the woke-left which appears hell bent on using Covid to control people as long as possible. #NoToFauci."

Conservative podcaster Bryan Dean Wright asserted via Twitter, "The CDC wants power. That’s it. That’s what this is about."

Conservative radio and podcast host Derek Hunter asked, "Does @costareports understand how the law works?" He then wrote, "The decision had nothing to do with efficacy, it had to do with whether or not the CDC had the authority. Chemo exists, the state doesn't have the power to mandate you take it. And that's being generous to the idea that masks work."

Other conservatives responded to a similar Fauci interview with Kasie Hunt Thursday during which he claimed to be "both surprised and disappointed" about the court ending the travel mask mandate this Monday, "Because those types of things really are the purview of the CDC." 

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Former Intercept journalist Glenn Greenwald tweeted, "This is either very ignorant or very deceitful from Fauci. Of course it's CDC's job, not a judge's, to make public health policy. That wasn't what the judge was doing. She was ruling on the legal limits and scope of CDC's power. And that's the job of a judge to do, not the CDC."

And The Federalist Editor-in-Chief Mollie Hemingway wrote, "Fauci seems to assert that the bureaucracy should not be beholden to the Constitution and rule of law."