Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Appeals Court Halts OSHA Vaccine Mandates
A U.S. appeals court has extended its Nov. 6 order pausing President Joe Biden’s shot-or-test mandate for businesses with 100 or more employees. The ruling, issued today by the New Orleans-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, solidifies its earlier order blocking implementation of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s emergency regulation. Its ruling comes ahead of a Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation lottery to determine which federal appeals court will be assigned to adjudicate the many legal challenges to the measure now pending across the country. The lottery is slated for Nov. 16. (Harris, 11/12)
A federal appeals court has upheld its stay on President Biden’s vaccine-or-test mandate for companies with at least 100 employees. In a 22-page ruling on Friday, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the mandate was “fatally flawed,” and barred the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) from enforcing the mandate “pending adequate judicial review” of a motion for permanent injunction. OSHA shall “take no steps to implement or enforce the mandate until further court order,” the ruling stated. (Williams, 11/12)
A Biden administration rule requiring large companies to mandate COVID vaccines for employees or impose weekly testing is "staggeringly overbroad" and "grossly exceeds [the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's] statutory authority," a federal appeals court said Friday in an order to keep the rule on hold. Under the rule, companies with 100 or more workers must mandate vaccination or regular testing by Jan. 4. (Chen, 11/13)
White House officials had no immediate comment on the ruling, which was hailed as a victory by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Texas joined other U.S. states, as well as private employers and religious organizations, in legal challenges to the order. "Citing Texas’s 'compelling argument[s]' the 5th Circuit has stayed OSHA’s unconstitutional and illegal private-business vaccine mandate", Paxton said on Twitter. (Whitcomb, 11/13)
