President Biden's COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal employees was blocked Thursday in federal appeals court.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans reversed a ruling by a three-judge panel of the same court that had upheld the vaccination requirement. At a rare en banc rehearing, the full court rejected the government's argument that courts don't have jurisdiction over pre-enforcement challenges to Biden's vaccine mandate.
The effect of the court's decision is to uphold a preliminary injunction issued by a federal judge in January 2022 that blocked the mandate. At the time, the Biden administration said nearly 98% of covered employees had already been vaccinated.
A panel of the 5th Circuit had briefly reinstated the mandate, reasoning that federal employees should have taken their complaint to administrative agencies that deal with employment issues, like the Merit Systems Protection Board or Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, instead of suing in court. But the full court agreed to hear the matter en banc, which again paused the mandate's enforcement.
Judge Andrew Oldham, a Trump appointee, wrote the majority opinion. The full 5th Circuitconcluded that federal employees could take their case to court because they were challenging Biden's authority on constitutional grounds. The court upheld the preliminary injunction blocking the vaccine mandate and now the federal employees' case will proceed in district court.
