It’s time, America. Time for everyone to dust off a middle school civics book and turn to the chapter on “Separation of Powers.”

That’s where kids learn that there are three equal branches of government in the United States: the executive, the legislative and the judiciary.

No one branch gets to run the whole show. They balance each other out. A genius move, by the way, by our Founding Fathers who feared monarchical types with unlimited power.

When the courts step in - to rule on a law passed by Congress or an action by the executive branch - it’s called “judicial review.”

And that’s what happened Monday when a federal judge in Florida ruled that the CDC didn’t have the authority to mandate face masks on public transit. (The CDC is part of the executive branch.)

I apologize for the schoolmarmish tone, but I’ve been horrified this week by the number of American stumpheads who are unfamiliar with these basic tenets of government.

Social media was overrun with hysterical lefties demanding to know how a single “unelected judge” could overturn a national mask mandate.

To be fair, most people haven’t seen the inside of a classroom for many years. Perhaps they forgot.

But the highest paid worker in the federal government? The Chief Medical Advisor to the White House? Surely Anthony Fauci is familiar with the balance of powers.

Then again, maybe not.

Looks like this lab-coated gnome spent his entire adult life as a bureaucrat yet has no idea how government works.

Unbelievable.

Fauci wants his disciples to believe that a court just “came in” and threw out the mandates.

He knows darn well that a lawsuit against the mandate was filed in federal court and the judge assigned to it heard the evidence, pondered it and then wrote a 50-plus page opinion ruling that the CDC exceeded its authority to require masks on public transit.

“We are concerned about the courts getting involved in things that are uniquely public health decisions,” Fauci sniffed. “This is a CDC issue, it should not have been a court issue.”

Seriously? He should be fired on the spot for that level of ignorance and arrogance.

This was absolutely an issue for the courts.

In fact, the JOB of the judicial branch is to make sure that the unelected heads of government agencies don’t go rogue and start acting like wacky little potentates.

Beyond that, this was also an American issue.

For two years air passengers have been forced to wear dirty rags on their faces in order to fly. For two years the CDC has ignored evidence that the air filtration system on commercial aircraft is far superior to what is found in offices, shops and restaurants. For two years the CDC forced 2-year-olds to wear masks when they flew with their parents.

It was insane overkill from the start. A federal judge put an end to it and we should all hope that higher courts uphold her ruling. Her ruling was thorough, thoughtful and long overdue.

Let’s be clear about what Fauci is saying: He says federal courts should not be allowed to review actions by the CDC.

In Fauci’s world, the director of the CDC would have unlimited powers. She could declare an endless health emergency and issue mandate after mandate, decree after decree, acting as a modern-day, unchecked American dictator.

That is not what the Constitution allows. As a matter of fact, Fauci and CDC Director Rochelle Walensky are exactly the sort of megalomaniacs our Founding Fathers feared and protected us from with - you guessed it - the separation of powers.

Class dismissed. Except Fauci. He needs more time in study hall.