Appeals Court Upholds Biden’s Federal Worker Vaccine Mandate

By Nathalie Voit

A federal appeals court upheld the Biden administration’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal employees issued on Sept. 9, paving the way for a revival of the public health policy that had been on hold since January.

According to court documents filed last week, the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 on April 7 to reverse a January ruling by a judge in Texas that blocked a nationwide federal worker vaccine requirement.

The court said that the judge in Texas, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Brow, did not have the jurisdiction to block the mandate and that the case should therefore be dismissed. The lawsuit was originally filed by the 6,000-member group Feds for Medical Freedom in December. 

Judge Brown, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, had ruled that the White House did not have the authority to coerce employees to “undergo a medical procedure as a condition of their employment.” The district court judge suggested less invasive public health measures like masking, social distancing, and working-from-home to curb the spread of COVID-19. 

“The President certainly possesses ‘broad statutory authority to regulate executive branch employment policies,’” Brown wrote in the ruling. “But the Supreme Court has expressly held that a COVID-19 vaccine mandate is not an employment regulation. And that means the President was without statutory authority to issue the federal worker mandate,” he said.

In light of the 5th Circuit’s decision to reverse the lower court’s order, the Department of Justice (DOJ) asked the appeals court to fast-track procedural hurdles necessary to allow the administration to resume enforcement of the mandate swiftly. Justice Department attorneys said that the measures were justified given the “serious ongoing harm to the public interest and to the government” posed by COVID-19.

If granted, the DOJ request would effectively reinstate the public health mandate that has been on hold since the nationwide injunction by the Texas-based judge was issued in January.

If the mandate’s challengers appeal the decision, the case could go up to the Supreme Court.

According to White House figures, about 96.5% of the 3.5 million federal workers covered by the mandate are already in compliance with the vaccination requirement.