WASHINGTON, D.C. – America First Legal applauds the decision in a case out of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas today to preliminarily enjoin President Biden’s vaccine mandate for federal workers. America First Legal also applauds the legal team at Boyden Gray & Associates who brought the challenge on behalf of a group of federal employees.
“While vaccines are undoubtedly the best way to avoid serious illness from COVID-19, there is no reason to believe that the public interest cannot be served via less restrictive measures than the mandate, such as masking, social distancing, or part- or full-time remote work. The plaintiffs note, interestingly, that even full-time remote federal workers are not exempt from the mandate. Stopping the spread of COVID-19 will not be achieved by overbroad policies like the federal-worker mandate,” Judge Brown wrote in his decision.
While this was not our case, America First Legal is proud to be involved in the fight against the Biden Administration’s clear executive overreach, and we will not allow the Administration to continue to steamroll over the separation of powers outlined in the United States Constitution.
Statement From America First Vice President and General Counsel Gene Hamilton:
“The Court made the right decision. No matter how much President Biden wants to use his power as president of the United States to force federal employees to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, there is no law granting him such authority. If we are to remain a nation of laws, the federal employee vaccine mandate cannot stand. As Judge Brown put it, the question is about “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. That, under the current state of the law as just recently expressed by the Supreme Court, is a bridge too far.” Unless Congress passes a law granting the president such authority, a vaccine mandate for federal workers will remain unlawful and unconstitutional,” Gene Hamilton said.
Read the decision here.
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