Judge Blocks Biden Vax Mandate for Federal Employees

President Joe Biden gets a COVID-19 booster shot in September. (Getty Images)

Editorial Staff January 21, 2022

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Brown a federal judge in Texas issued a nationwide ruling Friday that President Joe Biden could not require federal employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 despite the administrations failed attempts to require federal employees to either be vaccinated or face termination. Biden had issued an order requiring about 3.5 million workers to get vaccinated by Nov. 22 or seek a religious or medical accommodation or face discipline or firing.

In the judges ruling it was ruled that at issue was whether the president "can, with the stroke of a pen and without the input of Congress, require millions of federal employees to undergo a medical procedure as a condition of their employment." Judge Brown also added, “That, under the current state of the law as just recently expressed by the Supreme Court, is a bridge too far." He continued on saying the government could protect public health with less invasive measures, such as masking and social distancing. Judge Brown, is based in Galveston and had been appointed by President Donald Trump.

The Justice Department has said that it would appeal the ruling.

White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki Biden's Press Secretary said 98% of federal workers are vaccinated or have sought medical or religious exemptions. "We are confident in our legal authority," Psaki said in response to the judge's ruling. The judge said it was his understanding that the government was going to be begin disciplining noncompliant employees imminently. Brian Fouche, a survey statistician with the Department of Commerce with 16 years government experience, was told in a Jan. 19 letter that he would be suspended for 14 days beginning Jan. 30 because he refused to disclose his vaccination status, according to court documents. The letter from the U.S. Census Bureau informed Fouche that his "misconduct is very serious and will not be tolerated," according to a copy of the letter in court records. The letter said failure to comply with the vaccine requirements could lead to his dismissal. Judge Brown's ruling is the latest in a series of court decisions to go against government vaccine requirements. This in hopes that cooler heads will prevail. As free beings we all have the right to make decisions about our medical care, and the government has no authority to force such things as vaccines on us as the general public. Such issues are a matter of personal choice and that is where the decisions must lie. In mid-January, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked the president's COVID-19 vaccination-or-testing mandate for large businesses, a policy conservative justices deemed an improper imposition on the lives and health of many Americans. The court did however allow a separate federal vaccine requirement for healthcare facilities. A third major vaccine requirement aimed at employees of federal contractors was blocked by a federal judge in December. Many large private employers,such as United Airlines and Tyson Foods, have touted their success in using mandates to get nearly all staff vaccinated and had those mandates been challenged they most likely would have seen the same results.

The Supreme Court's ruling earlier this month that blocked the mandate for larger businesses prompted some employers, including Starbucks, to abandon vaccine requirements for staff. The suit was brought by the group Feds for Medical Freedom.