Judge Jeffrey Brown from the Southern District of Texas issued a nationwide injunction on Friday (Jan. 21), barring the federal government from enforcing President Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal workers.
Biden announced in September that over 3.5 million federal workers were required to undergo COVID-19 vaccination, with no option to get regularly tested instead.
Judge Brown ruled that Biden overstepped his authority as president and blocked the government from enforcing the vaccination requirement, saying that opponents of the mandate were likely to succeed at trial.
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 added, “That, under the current state of the law as just recently expressed by the Supreme Court, is a bridge too far.”
The Justice Department said it would appeal the ruling.
