A federal appeals court Thursday night upheld a nationwide injunction on President Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal employees, leaving in place a prohibition on the administration enforcing the requirement.
The latest decision came from an en banc rehearing before the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, where a 10-judge majority ruled against the Biden administration. A three-judge panel on the court last year briefly overturned an injunction first instituted at the district court level, but the pause went back into effect last June when the full 5th Circuit agreed to rehear the case. With the mandate’s enforcement still paused, federal agencies cannot suspend, fire or otherwise discipline the small minority of their workers not already in compliance with the requirement.