The U.S. District Court of the Southern District of Texas Judge Jeffrey Vincent Brown on Friday ruled that the Biden administration may not require federal employees to be vaccinated against COVID. The court issued a preliminary injunction halting the executive order that was established in September that required most federal employees and contractors to get the jab.
It had just been a little over a week after the U.S. Supreme Court decided against allowing the Biden administration from requiring COVID vaccines for businesses with at least 100 employees. Now, the Biden administration faces yet another roadblock in its goals to get more Americans vaccinated against COVID.
Judge Brown, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump, argued that President Joe Biden does not have the authority to require federal workers to be inoculated with the COVID vaccine, the Christian Post reported. Judge Brown however agreed that President Biden has authority over federal employment policies but these authorities don't allow him to require federal workers to get the COVID vaccine.
Judge Brown wrote in a 20-page ruling that the question before the court was whether the President of the United States, "without the input of Congress" can require millions of federal workers to "undergo a medical procedure as a condition of their employment."
"That, under the current state of the law as just recently expressed by the Supreme Court, is a bridge too far," Judge Brown argued. The Texas judge assumed office in 2019 following a tenure as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of Texas.
Judge Brown argued that while the president has the power to "regulate executive branch employment policies," the Supreme Court has decided that the COVID vaccine mandate is "not an employment regulation" and that the president does not have a "statutory authority to issue the federal worker mandate."
"Stopping the spread of COVID-19 will not be achieved by overbroad policies like the federal-worker mandate," Judge Brown wrote, as per the Federal News Network. The Texas judge also highlighted that COVID vaccines are "undoubtedly the best way to avoid serious illness" from COVID but that the government should consider "less restrictive measures than the mandate."
The Biden administration's COVID vaccine mandate allowed for certain exemptions and did not include members of Congress and workers of the U.S. Postal Service. It also allowed for valid religious or medical exemptions, which some argued were difficult to obtain.
According to Reuters, more than 93% of federal employees have gotten at least one shot of the COVID vaccine and 98% have been vaccinated or are requesting for a religious or medical exemption from getting inoculated. The Department of Justice immediately responded to the Texas judge's decision by saying it would appeal the ruling.
"We are confident in our legal authority," White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki responded to the Texas judge's ruling. The Biden administration has acknowledged several courts that have rejected similar challenges. It also noted that federal agencies have said they refuse to discipline or punish workers who have pending exemption requests.
