Vaccine mandate for federal employees awaits court ruling
ABC News
President Joe Biden's requirement that all federal employees be vaccinated against COVID-19 is awaiting judgment from a federal appeals court after arguments in New Orleans
NEW ORLEANS -- A federal judge in Texas overstepped his authority when he blocked President Joe Biden's requirement that all federal employees get vaccinated against COVID-19, an attorney for the administration told a federal appeals court panel Tuesday.
Department of Justice lawyer Charles Scarborough noted that district judges in a dozen jurisdictions had rejected a challenge to the vaccine requirement for federal workers. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Brown, who was appointed to the District Court for the Southern District of Texas by President Donald Trump, issued a nationwide injunction against the requirement in January.
Scarborough argued that the Constitution gives the president, as the head of the federal workforce, the same authority as the CEO of a private corporation has to require that employees be vaccinated. “This is the president exercising his authority as an employer,” Scarborough said.
He also argued that the case does not belong in federal court because federal employees have administrative civil service remedies they must exhaust first before heading to court.
