President Joe Biden suffered a setback in court this week when a federal judge in Georgia halted his vaccine mandate for federal contractors, delivering the latest legal blow to the Biden administration’s agenda.
Beyond its pandemic-related measures, the Biden administration has endured a number of admonishments from courts concerned about the White House’s use of executive authority.
Here are some of the legal losses handed to the White House so far.
PRIVATE BUSINESSES VACCINE MANDATE
Federal judges in November blocked Biden’s vaccine mandate for businesses with more than 100 employees over “grave statutory and constitutional issues.”
Biden had hoped to use the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to enforce the rule, which was set to take effect on Jan. 4.
After the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals paused the mandate over the constitutional concerns and questions about whether a Labor Department office had the authority to impose such a sweeping public health policy, the Biden administration said it would suspend its implementation of the rule.
FEDERAL CONTRACTOR VACCINE MANDATE
Biden also attempted to require all federal contractors to force their employees to get vaccinated through an executive order he signed in early September.
Companies that didn’t comply by mid-January risked losing eligibility for federal contracts.
A federal judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia temporarily blocked the federal contractor mandate on Tuesday on the grounds Biden likely exceeded his authority.
Biden attempted to use the Procurement Act, legislation that gives the federal government authority over administrative items related to contracting to enforce the vaccine mandate.
But the judge ruled that Biden likely overstepped what the Procurement Act allows him to do, including placing an “extreme economic burden” on companies that wish to bid on contracts with the federal government.
HEALTHCARE WORKER VACCINE MANDATE
Two federal courts blocked enforcement nationwide of Biden’s healthcare worker mandate through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services — the third federal vaccine mandate to crumble under legal scrutiny.
Separate judges found CMS did not follow rules for providing the public with an opportunity to comment on pending rules before issuing the mandate. The judges also said Biden administration officials exceeded the authority of CMS by issuing such strict requirements.
REMAIN IN MEXICO
Biden used his first day in office to end a number of immigration policies enacted during the Trump administration, fulfilling a campaign promise to dismantle his predecessor’s border security agenda.
One of those policies was the Migrant Protection Protocols, known as “Remain in Mexico,” which forced asylum-seekers to await the adjudication of their claims on the Mexican side of the southern borders.
A federal judge in Texas ruled in August that the Biden administration did not have the power to undo the policy, and the Supreme Court allowed that decision to stand less than two weeks later.
In its order, the Supreme Court cited a previous case in which the Trump administration’s effort to end the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program was denied. The Supreme Court suggested Biden similarly could not discard the previous administration’s signature immigration policy without a sufficiently compelling reason.
The Biden administration has since begun to reinstate Remain in Mexico.
EVICTION MORATORIUM
Beginning last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an order banning landlords from evicting tenants who met certain criteria, such as income levels.
The Biden administration attempted to extend the eviction moratorium this summer, using the same basis of a public health emergency to renew the CDC rule even as vaccines dramatically lowered the most significant risks of coronavirus for most people.
The Supreme Court in August blocked the Biden administration from extending the eviction moratorium any further, deciding with a 6-3 majority that the CDC did not have the power to implement such a far-reaching policy.
CRUISE SHIP RULES
As cruise companies prepared to set sail again after the height of the pandemic, the Biden administration attempted to impose a series of heavy-handed rules on what cruise ships had to do in order to reopen to the public.
Those included strict testing requirements for crew members and a requirement to conduct “trial” voyages before actually reopening.
Following a legal challenge from Florida, where dozens of cruise ships dock, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in July that the CDC had likely exceeded its authority to impose such restrictions on private cruise businesses, siding with Florida’s arguments that the regulations placed a severe economic burden on the industry.
OIL DRILLING RIGHTS
During the first week of his presidency, Biden moved to suspend oil and gas leases on federal lands to limit drilling, which environmentalists have long demanded.
In June, a federal court told the Biden administration it could not pause the leases. The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana ruled that Congress has the authority to make such consequential decisions about what activity is permitted on federal lands, not the executive branch.
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The Biden administration was slow to allow access to the leases after the order, however. By August, the court threatened to hold Biden’s Department of Interior in contempt of court for ignoring the order that the oil and gas leases resume.
The Biden administration has appealed the ruling.
