Federal Vaccine Mandate Blocked Again as Appeals Court Dissolves Earlier Ruling

Gary BaiJune 28, 2022

The vaccine mandate for federal employees will remain blocked at least until a September court hearing.

A Texas appeals court is dissolving a previous decision that upheld the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate for federal employees.

On Monday, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to request a full court to rehear Feds for Medical Freedom v. Biden (pdf), effectively dissolving the court’s April decision.

This means that President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate, which he introduced via Executive Order 14043 in September 2021, will remain blocked as long as the court does not issue a decision otherwise. The court has tentatively calendared the en banc oral arguments for the week of Sept. 12.

Feds for Medical Freedom, the plaintiffs, first challenged Biden’s vaccine mandate in a district court in Texas in December 2021 and alleged that the president exceeded his authority in imposing the vaccine mandate for federal employees.

The federal judge, Justice Jeffrey Brown, sided with the plaintiffs and issued an injunction order in January to block Biden’s federal vaccine mandate, which was in effect nationwide.

“So is submitting to a COVID-19 vaccine, particularly when required as a condition of one’s employment, workplace conduct? The answer to this question became a lot clearer after the Supreme Court’s ruling earlier this month,” J. Brown said, referencing the Supreme Court’s finding in early January that Biden’s vaccine mandate for private businesses falls outside a president’s powers of authority.

Government lawyers stated in the lawsuit that federal law says the president “may prescribe regulations for the conduct of employees in the executive branch,” and that the act of becoming vaccinated is “plainly conduct.”

In April, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the lower court’s January ruling and