The Justice Department has requested a federal appeals court to allow President Joe Biden‘s administration to resume its enforcement of a federal employee vaccine mandate previously blocked by a lower-court judge.
The DOJ request on Monday follows a 2-1 decision by the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals the previous Thursday to reverse its decision blocking the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for civilian federal workers. The DOJ says the judge who blocked the mandate in January, Jeffrey Brown, did not have the jurisdiction to do so.
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Attorneys for the DOJ asked the appeals court on Monday to take “appropriate steps so that the government may resume implementation and enforcement” of Biden’s federal vaccine mandate executive order. They added that the measures are “justified by the serious ongoing harm to the public interest and to the government.”
APPEALS COURT REINSTATES BIDEN VACCINE MANDATE FOR FEDERAL WORKERS
In the panel’s 2-1 decision, the majority said the plaintiffs who sued against the mandates sought “to circumvent” the Civil Service Reform Act’s review scheme, siding with the argument posited by the Biden administration for employees to raise their grievances through the CSRA.
In September, Biden said he would mandate nearly 3.5 million federal employees to be vaccinated by Nov. 22, barring medical or religious accommodations, or be subjugated to discipline or termination from employment.
The mandate was struck by lawsuits following its implementation in the fall. A challenge was brought in December by a 6,000-member group called Feds for Medical Freedom, which led to the policy being temporarily blocked in January.
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According to White House figures, 93% of government employees have received at least one vaccine dose, and 98% have been fully vaccinated, with the remaining 4% seeking religious or medical exemption.
The Supreme Court blocked Biden’s COVID-19 vaccination-or-testing mandate for large businesses in January, though the court allowed a separate federal vaccine requirement for healthcare facilities.
