Massive Win For Freedom: Federal Appeals Court Slams The Gavel On Joe Biden, Orders White House To End Covid Vax Requirement For Federal Contractors

The Biden administration’s new COVID-19 vaccine mandate has been struck down by a federal court. The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 on Monday. 

According to the ruling, federal contractors are not required to be vaccinated for employment. The ruling approved a lower federal court’s verdict opposing Biden’s September 2021 vaccine mandate concerning federal contractors.

The lawsuit was initiated by the states of Mississippi, Louisiana, and Indiana as they were seeking the mandate’s invalidation.

Reuters reported, the panel ruled that Biden wanted it “to ratify an exercise of proprietary authority that would permit him to unilaterally impose a healthcare decision on one-fifth of all employees in the United States. We decline to do so.”

Back in September, U.S. District Judge Terry A. Doughty overturned the COVID-19 vaccine mandate and mask requirements imposed by the Biden administration in Louisiana. 

According to The Hill: 

Doughty discovered in his verdict that the plaintiffs had complied with the requirements to impose a long-lasting ruling. Doughty declared that the plaintiffs were facing a “substantial threat of irreparable injury” if the mandate wasn’t taken down.

“Plaintiff States will incur the increased cost of training and of enforcing the Head Start Mandate, will be unable to enforce their laws, and will have their police power encroached. The Court finds that this would be an irreparable injury,” Doughty mentioned in his verdict, as reported by The Hill.

The plaintiffs included  numerous Head Start teachers across the U.S. along with various state governments

The Liberty Justice Center, which was a part of the lawsuit, pointed out that a teacher named Sandy Brick, who brought the case in Doughty’s court against the mandate in December last year. 

The Pelican Institute for Public Policy is also representing Brick. 

“Although President Biden recently declared that the ‘pandemic is over,’ the fight to restore Americans’ individual liberties is not,” said Daniel Suhr, managing attorney at the Liberty Justice Center. “We will continue to fight for teachers like Sandy and the low-income students they serve until every illegal and unjustified mandate is wiped from the books. Today’s decision is a significant step toward undoing the injustice perpetrated against everyday Americans throughout the COVID-19 crisis.”

The general counsel at the Pelican Institute for Public Policy, Sarah Harbison stated: “Louisiana teacher Sandy Brick has been serving her students through adversity and uncertainty the last two years. Today, this decision vindicates her right to teach without sacrificing her freedom.”

The press release also elaborated on the origin of the mandate:

The new vaccine mandate was imposed on Nov. 30, last year. The volunteers, staff, and teachers from Head Start programs were required to be “fully vaccinated” or they could end up losing their jobs. The mandate also made masks compulsory for adults and kids aged above two.

“The public interest is served by maintaining the constitutional structure and maintaining the liberty of individuals who do not want to take the COVID-19 vaccine,” Doughty also noted in his ruling. “This interest outweighs Agency Defendants’ interests.

“The public has a liberty interest in not being required to take a vaccine or be fired from their jobs. The public interest must be taken into account before allowing Agency Defendants to mandate vaccines. Although vaccines arguably serve the public interest, the liberty interests of individuals mandated to take the COVID-19 vaccine outweigh any interest generated by the mandatory administration of vaccines,” he added.

The Liberty Justice Center also highlighted that if the current administration files for an appeal against Doughty’s verdict, the appeal will then be heard Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. 

That is the same court that eliminated Biden administration’s vaccine mandate earlier. Doughty’s verdict applies to 24 states which were the plaintiffs in the lawsuit.