On December 7, 2021, we brought to you the news that U.S. District Court Judge R. Stan Baker in the Southern District of Georgia put a nationwide halt on the federal contractor vaccination mandate. On January 21, 2022 Judge Jeffrey V. Brown of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas agreed with Judge Baker. The judge opined that this case was not about the importance of being vaccinated or not, because the judge agreed it was important that everyone should get vaccinated.  “It is instead 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.” The judge also stated that the plaintiffs would most likely win on constitutional grounds as well. 

This decision comes on the heels of Biden and OSHA losing at the Supreme Court level to require companies with 100 or more employees to implement a vaccine and testing mandate. Federal contractors, you live another day to not have to make this vaccination requirement part of your workplace.