This newsletter is distributed by Public Health Law Watch as part of Act for Public Health, a working group of the Public Health Law Partnership that is convening to provide law and policy research, analysis, and expertise in support of public health authority.
This week's case updates:
Tuesday, 9/20: The Oklahoma Supreme Court struck down a 2021 state law which prohibited school districts from enacting mask mandates without the governor first declaring a state of emergency.
Wednesday, 9/21: A federal judge in Louisiana struck down the Biden administration’s mask mandate and vaccine mandate for Head Start child care facility employees.
Wednesday, 9/21: The Supreme Court said it will consider hearing a challenge brought by an NYPD detective over the city’s vaccine mandate for public employees.
Friday, 9/23: An Ohio court dismissed a case against Perrysburg schools for its mask mandate.
Spotlight: The current status of federal vaccine mandate litigation
The federal government has imposed a number of vaccine mandates in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This week’s update offers a brief summary of the litigation surrounding the contractor mandate, federal employee mandate, and Head Start program mandate. The litigation status of other vaccine mandates will be discussed next week.
Contractor Mandate
Last month, the Eleventh Circuit upheld a lower court’s injunction of Biden’s executive order requiring employees working on federal government contracts to be vaccinated against COVID-19 (Georgia v. Biden). The court agreed that Biden acted outside the scope of his authority under the Procurement Act when he directed executive agencies to enforce the mandate. However, while the lower court enjoined enforcement of the contractor vaccine mandate nationwide, the Eleventh Circuit narrowed the applicability of the injunction to only plaintiffs. Nevertheless, the federal government has decided to not enforce the mandate anywhere.
There remains a patchwork of ongoing litigation regarding the contractor mandate, and many cases are pending appeal:
Enforcement is enjoined in the seven states that were parties to Georgia v. Biden and in federal contracts with members from the Associated Builders and Contractors (Georgia v. Biden)
Enforcement is enjoined as applied to federal contracts in Indiana, Louisiana, and Mississippi as parties, but an appeal is pending in the 5th Circuit with oral arguments scheduled for October 3, 2022 (Louisiana v. Biden)
Enforcement is enjoined in federal contracts in Florida, but an appeal is pending in the 11th Circuit (Florida v. Nelson)
Enforcement is enjoined in federal contracts in Arizona, but an appeal is pending in the 9th Circuit (Brnovich v. Biden)
Enforcement is enjoined in federal contracts in Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee, but an appeal was argued in the 6th Circuit on July 21, 2022 (Kentucky v. Biden)
Enforcement is enjoined in federal contracts in Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Montana, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, and South Dakota, but an appeal was argued in the 8th Circuit on September 21, 2022 (Missouri v. Biden)
