12/14/2021- 6:23 p.m.
Fifth Circuit overturns nationwide injunction on vaccine mandate for health care workers
A federal appeals court Wednesday overruled a lower court’s nationwide injunction against a Biden administration mandate that required healthcare workers at federally funded facilities to receive Covid-19 vaccines.
In the underlying lawsuit, a federal district court issued a nationwide preliminary injunction against the mandate, which was being challenged by 14 states’ attorneys general.
But the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals — which hears appeals from the federal courts in Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas — was unconvinced that the lower court justified its injunction’s wide scope.
“The question posed is whether one district court should make a binding judgment for the entire country,” wrote the panel of three judges, who issued an unsigned “per curiam” opinion representing their views as one voice.
