As the government continues to pursue enforcement of the vaccine mandate against federal employees, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has agreed to an en banc hearing of the Feds for Medical Freedom case against President Biden’s federal employee vaccine mandate by executive order.

On January 21, 2022 a US District Court issued an injunction blocking the government from enforcing President Biden’s executive order mandating COVID19 vaccines for federal employees.

The court notes at the outset that this case is not about whether folks should get vaccinated against COVID-19—the court believes they should. It is not even about the federal government’s power, exercised properly, to mandate vaccination of its employees. It is instead about 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. That, under the current state of the law as just recently expressed by the Supreme Court, is a bridge too far.

Feds for Medical Freedom v. Joseph Biden No. 3:21-cv-356

On April 7, 2022 a panel of the 5^th Circuit court said in a 2-1 decision that the judge in the lower court did not have authority to issue the injunction on the federal employee vaccine mandate. The 5th Circuit panel said that federal employees challenging the president’s vaccine mandate would have to do so through administrative remedies under civil service law.

Subsequently, the Appeals Court agreed to hear the case, and it is now going back before the full court. The decision issued on June 27 states:

“It is ordered that this cause shall be reheard by the court en banc with oral argument on a date hereafter to be fixed. The Clerk will specify a briefing schedule for the filing of supplemental briefs. Pursuant to 5th Circuit Rule 41.3, the panel opinion dated April 7, 2022, is VACATED.”

The date set for the hearing is 9/13/2022 at 9am CDT. Among the issues to be decided are:

1. Whether Civil Service Reform Act strips district courts of jurisdiction over pre-enforcement challenges to new government- wide executive policies imposing ongoing unconstitutional coercion.
2. Whether the District Court correctly held that the President’s unprecedented and unilateral act of mandating that millions of civilian employees undergo a permanent and irreversible medical procedure to keep their jobs was beyond the power of the office of the president and unlawful.
3. Issues regarding District Court discretion in findings of irreparable and imminent injury and facts related to the warrant of clear, broad injunctive relief.

Amicus briefs have been filed on behalf of plaintiffs Feds for Medical Freedom by:

• America’s Frontline Doctors
• America First Legal Foundation
• New Civil Liberties Alliance
• Liberty Justice Center
• First Liberty Institute
• Amici Curiae:
• America’s Future, Inc.,
• Center for Medical Freedom, U.S.
• Constitutional Rights Legal Defense Fund
• Leadership Institute
• Conservative Legal Defense and Education Fund
• Eagle Forum Foundation
• Eagle Forum
• Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation
• Downsize DC Foundation
• DownsizeDC.org
• Virginia Delegate Dave LaRock

Important Notes