In a reversal for President Biden, a federal appeals court in New Orleans on Monday (June 27) agreed to reconsider its own April ruling that allowed the administration to require federal employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
The new order from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans vacates an earlier ruling by a three-judge panel that upheld the mandate. The new order means a block on the mandate imposed in January 2022 by a Texas-based federal judge remains in effect, while the full court’s 17 judges take up the appeal.
Biden had issued an order on September 9, 2021 requiring that more than 3.5 million federal executive branch workers undergo COVID-19 vaccination, with no option to get regularly tested instead, unless they secured approved medical or religious exemptions.