Lauren Moye, FISM News
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Another setback has been dealt to the president’s vaccination mandate for healthcare workers as a federal appeals court has denied the Department of Justice’s appeal to lift a temporary ban.
On Monday, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s decision to block the mandate requiring COVID-19 vaccinations for healthcare workers nationwide in a 2-1 decision. The judges who acted on the DOJ’s request were unknown – except for Judge Jane Kelly who would have lifted the ban – and the decision was not explained.
Sean Marotta, who provides outside counsel for the American Hospital Association, explained the decision in a blog post: “The Eighth Circuit’s denial of the federal government’s motion means that the CMS vaccine mandate remains enjoined nationwide. The Eighth Circuit’s denial also means that the federal government can now ask the U.S. Supreme Court to stay the Missouri district court’s preliminary injunction, setting up a high court showdown over whether the CMS vaccine mandate should go into effect.”
Marotta speculated on how soon a ruling from the Supreme Court might be given, writing: “It depends on how quickly the federal government files its application at the Supreme Court and the schedule the court sets for any response. But the Supreme Court can move fast when it wants to, and my guess is that we will see an order from the high court before the end of the year.”
U.S. District Judge Matthew Schelp originally ruled against the mandate on Nov. 29. Schelp wrote at the time: “The scale falls clearly in favor of healthcare facilities operating with some unvaccinated employees, staff, trainees, students, volunteers, and contractors, rather than the swift, irremediable impact of requiring healthcare facilities to choose between two undesirable choices — providing substandard care or providing no healthcare at all.”
Only the coalition of ten plaintiff states who filed in early November to prevent the White House’s mandate from coming into effect were impacted by the court’s decision: Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming.
However, a similar ruling from a Louisiana judge blocked the healthcare worker COVID-19 vaccine mandate for all states because he found it “important to preserve the status quo in this case” while waiting for a higher court to reach a decision. An appeals court has not yet ruled on if it will keep the injunction in place or allow the mandate to go through.
The mandate placed under President Joe Biden’s direction would have required the full vaccination or termination of healthcare workers nationwide by a Jan. 4 deadline if the courts had ruled in favor of the Department of Justice. Other vaccination mandates include one on Federal employees, independent contractors with the government, and private businesses with more than 100 employees.
These mandates have received swift legal pushback from conservative States, including two separate lawsuits that challenged the healthcare worker requirement. Monday’s denial of the DOJ’s appeal is another setback to Biden’s plans which inches the nation closer to a final ruling on the matter from the Supreme Court.