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Federal Judge Halts Vaccine Mandate For Federal Workers


Late last week, a federal judge in Texas issued an injunction that stops the coronavirus vaccine mandate for federal workers from taking effect.

Readers might recall that President Joe Biden had previously ordered that all federal workers get the coronavirus vaccine as a condition of employment or risk termination.  Notably, no test out option was allowed.  That was met with cheers (and criticism) from many.  While legal challenges were asserted, things had been rather slow moving up until last Friday’s ruling from this Court in Texas.  

In the Court’s ruling, the Judge noted that President Biden lacked the authority to issue an order requiring all federal workers to undergo a medical treatment as a condition of employment, given in part that Congress had not delegated this authority to the Executive Branch.  Consequently, the Court reasoned that President Biden exceeded his authority when he issued such an order in relation to coronavirus vaccines as a condition of employment.

To clarify for readers, the Court’s ruling in this case is unrelated to the U.S. Supreme Court decision in which the Supreme Court ruled on vaccine mandates for large employers.  (This case and the U.S. Supreme Court case are two separate matters.)  With that being said, this stay issued last week is significant to the extent that it throws yet another hurdle in from of the Biden Administration’s efforts to implement policies to boost coronavirus vaccine rates.  O course, this stay of the vaccine mandate can be reversed.  Friday’s ruling was not the final say in the matter…just another development in the ongoing saga.


For a copy of the Court’s Order:  https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.txsd.1855108/gov.uscourts.txsd.1855108.36.0.pdf

For additional information:  https://nypost.com/2022/01/21/texas-judge-blocks-biden-vaccine-mandate-for-federal-workers/

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