Despite recently updated Centers for Disease Control Prevention guidelines for both vaccinated individuals and those not vaccinated, President Biden’s Administration is still pursuing litigation to enforce a federal worker vaccination mandate.
On Sept. 13, the whole Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals will hear the case called Feds for Medical Freedom v. Biden. This case stems from a Texas case that saw a federal court issue a nationwide injunction to stop the federal government from applying its vaccine mandate for civilian workers.
The appeals court panel ruled in favor of the Biden administration and overturned the trial court. The Feds for Medical Freedom workers asked the entire 17-judge appeals panel to weigh in. The court accepted, and placed its previous ruling in limbo. This prevents the mandate from being implemented until a final ruling is issued. The Biden administration will now go to court to try and enforce the mandate next month.
The CDC has recently updated its guidelines for coronavirus, making recommendations about quarantine and prevention equally applicable to both vaccinated individuals and those who have not been vaccinated.
According to the guidelines, “quarantine of persons exposed is not recommended,” regardless of their vaccination status. According to the CDC this recommendation is intended to “limit the socio-economic impacts” of virus mitigation measures.
Ilya Shaprio, Manhattan Institute senior fellow for constitutional Studies, stated to Fox News Digital that these changes in the CDC guidelines would complicate the Biden Administration’s efforts enforce the federal employee vaccination mandate.
Shapiro said: “It goes up to the standard of arbitrary-capricious under administrative procedure… If the CDC itself… says that there’s not any benefit if there is no difference between vaccinated or unvaccinated then why is he doing it?”
Marcus Thornton, president of Feds for Medical Freedom, said that “The CDC draws little distinction between vaccinated or unvaccinated populations. It is clear that ‘The Science” does not support forced vaccines. Therefore, the administration should revoke its unscientific executive order mandating COVID vaccines for federal contractors and employees.
When asked if the changes in CDC guidelines would affect its litigation, the Justice Department declined to respond. The Justice Department also declined to answer a question about whether there was any reason to keep pursuing the mandate, now that the guidelines are parity between unvaccinated and vaccinated persons.
The White House didn’t respond to the request for comment that asked the same questions.
The government argued to the Fifth Circuit last month that it should allow the vaccine mandate to proceed. One of the main reasons for the mandate was to preserve workers’ efficiency.
Executive Order 14043, which was issued by President Reagan to address the fact that federal employees could be exposed to illegal drugs while on duty, reflects a belief that spreading contagious viruses can cause workplace dysfunction.
In its brief, the Biden administration presents many other arguments. These include reasons why it is authorized to execute the mandate and the necessity to do so now.
The government argued that employees could seek exemptions from the mandate, although these exemptions are rarely given out. The government stated that vaccination status does not refer to a particular class but rather to a specific behavior. The government explained that this is similar to the way illegal drug users are not protected classes.
Feds for Medical Freedom, along with its allies, claim that Biden does not have the authority or the power to order the civilian federal workforce to get a COVID-19 vaccination. They claim that being vaccinated against COVID-19 makes you a different person from all other behavior and is a status.
