Federal appeals court blocks Biden administration’s vaccine mandate

A federal appeals court Thursday ruled against the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate for federal workers, dealing a blow to the government’s ongoing attempt to bring back the mandate.

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans upheld a lower court ruling from January 2022 granting a preliminary injunction against the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate. The appellate court issued the ruling after a rare en banc session in which all judges from the court were present.

“We hasten to emphasize that this case only involves a preliminary injunction. The preliminary injunction’s purpose is to maintain the status quo until the parties have the chance to adjudicate the merits,” reads the court’s decision. “When the parties proceed to the merits in the district court, the plaintiffs will have to prove that whatever injunction they request is broad enough to protect against their proven injuries and no broader. And the government will have another chance to show that any permanent injunction should be narrower than the preliminary one.” 

The federal government is attempting to reinstate forced vaccinations even as it prepares to end the COVID-19 national emergency in May and disband the White House’s COVID-19 Response Team.

It is also seeking to restore the vaccine mandate despite the CDC’s own guidance, published in August, recommending the vaccinated and unvaccinated be treated the same — something that would necessarily change with a vaccine mandate.

Feds for Medical Freedom, an organization of 8,500 unvaccinated federal workers which sued the Biden administration over the mandate, celebrated the court’s ruling.

"Our members have always argued that federal law does not permit the federal government to force federal workers—or any law-abiding citizen—to inject their bodies with something against their will,” said Feds for Med Freedom President Marcus Thornton in a statement Thursday. “In fact, the freedom to control your own body and your own medical information is so basic that, without those liberties, it is impossible to truly be 'free' at all. It was incredibly vindicating to hear the court echo those arguments and to draw clear limits around federal authority as it relates to forced vaccinations and medical freedoms.”

Thornton added that the court’s ruling exposes the illegality of the mandate.

"Furthermore, since the COVID vaccine mandate was issued in September 2021, it should be noted that federal employees and contractors who have exercised their right to refuse vaccination have been subjected to workplace harassment, ridicule, demotion, and termination. The court's ruling today demonstrates that treatment was not only unprofessional and immoral, but premised on an illegal Executive Order, as well,” he said. 

"Today's decision was a big win for our members, but we are just getting started. Feds for Med Freedom intends to file new suits in federal court for violations of our members' rights, including under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the U.S. Constitution. We will be fighting for justice for those whom the vaccine has injured. As this decision makes clear today, many in the government overstepped their legal bounds, and we are going to hold them accountable."

The Biden administration is also making a push to restore the travel mask mandate, which was struck down in April 2022 by a federal district court in Florida. 

Following the ruling, the Justice Department appealed to have the mandate reinstated despite Joe Biden announcing in September that “the pandemic is over.” 

"If you notice, no one's wearing a mask, everybody seems to be in pretty good shape," Biden added then.