President Joe Biden's vaccine mandate for the private sector was reportedly blocked by a federal court.
The Epoch Times said a federal courts appeal blocked Biden's new mandate on Saturday pointing out that it may lead to constitutional issues. While The Daily Wire underscored in its report that the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit temporarily halted the new vaccine mandate by issuing a ruling on Saturday out of a "petitioner's emergency motion" until it has undergone "expedited judicial review."
The Daily Wire also highlighted that the block was imposed on the new mandate due to the possibility that there are "grave statutory and constitutional' issues at stake if it will be implemented.
"Before the court is the petitioners' emergency motion to stay enforcement of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's November 5, 2021 Emergency Temporary Standard (the 'Mandate') pending expedited judicial review," the Fifth Circuit Court said in its ruling.
"Because the petitions give cause to believe there are grave statutory and constitutional issues with the Mandate, the Mandate is hereby STAYED pending further action by this court," the court ended.
As reported last week, Biden reinforced his administration's vaccination mandate by coming out with two major policies for implementation by the private sector through the Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Biden released a statement on Thursday regarding the two new policies coupled with The White House' Fact Sheet on it pointing out that 84 million American workers belonging to companies with 100 or more employees along with 17 million workers from 76,000 health care facilities and hospitals will be affected by the mandate.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services policy requires Medicare and Medicaid participants to be vaccinated without exemption. While the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, though similarly requiring the vaccination, provides an alternative to those who do not wish to with a weekly submission of negative COVID-19 tests. Non-complying employees are required, however, to wear masks while at work. Those who wish to comply are given paid leaves when they do get vaccinated. Employees have until January 4 to comply.
Ironically, Biden's new mandate comes after he eased out on prior policies lined up for federal suppliers in the face of contracts with them being dropped.
The emergency petition filed at the Fifth Circuit was done so by a variety of companies, associations, service groups, airlines, and religious organizations, as well as, states. The States of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Utah are the states who are part of the petition. While Christian organization Word of God Fellowship, which has a media outlet called the Daystar Television Network, is the sole religious entity in the petition.
Lawyers for the petitioners revealed in an emergency motion that the new mandate, posed as an Emergency Temporary Standard, was made without Congress approval yet will affect many Americans and that it is intended to be applied in a situation that has been going on for more than a year already.
"Vaccination status is a public health issue that affects people throughout society; it is not a hazard particular to the workplace. And there is no need to use an emergency rule to address a pandemic that has been going on for nearly two years. Congress did not grant OSHA such sweeping powers in its authorizing statute," the lawyers said.
"In an attempt to impose a nationwide vaccination mandate without approval from Congress, the executive branch has couched its COVID-19 vaccine mandate as an emergency workplace rule affecting nearly 100 million Americans. But the ETS is neither a workplace rule nor responsive to an emergency," they stressed.
