Court blocks COVID-19 vaccine mandate for US gov’t workers

By KEVIN MCGILL
Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A federal appeals court has blocked President Joe Biden’s order that federal employees get vaccinated against COVID-19. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans rejected arguments that Biden, as the nation’s chief executive, has the same authority as the CEO of a private corporation to require that employees be vaccinated. The ruling from the full appeals court — 16 judges at the time — reversed an earlier ruling by a three-judge appellate panel that had upheld the vaccination requirement. Opponents of the policy said it was an encroachment on federal workers’ lives that neither the Constitution nor federal statutes authorize.