As previously reported, President Biden’s Federal Contractor Vaccine mandate is under a nationwide injunction and that does not look to be changing anytime soon.
In December 2021, the Administration filed their appeal of the preliminary injunction ruling to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals and requested a stay of the injunction. On December 17, 2021, the 11th Circuit denied the motion to stay the preliminary injunction, stating that the government failed to establish that it would be irreparably injured absent a stay. On December 21, 2021, the Court pushed back the briefing schedule by roughly two weeks and set oral argument for the week of April 4, 2022. On December 22, 2021, the Parties filed an unopposed motion to expedite oral argument, scheduling it for no later than the end of February 2022. The 11th Circuit denied the Parties’ motion to expedite oral argument, claiming that the Court had already “expedited briefing and oral argument” (despite the fact that the Court had delayed the briefing schedule on December 21, 2021). As a result, the current schedule is as follows:
- January 18, 2022 – Deadline for Defendants to file initial brief
- February 8, 2022 – Deadline for Plaintiffs to file answer
- February 22, 2022 – Deadline for Defendants to file reply
- April 4, 2022 – Oral argument
Today, January 21, 2022, Judge Jeffrey Brown from the Southern District of Texas granted a separate nationwide injunction of the federal employee Vaccine mandate Executive Order 14043 in the case of Feds for Medical Freedom et al v. Biden, S.D. Tex., No. 3:21-cv-00356. Judge Brown specifically ordered the government is “enjoined from implementing or enforcing Executive Order 14043 until this case is resolved on the merits.”
Stay tuned for any new developments.