A federal appeals court in the United States (US) on Saturday halted the enforcement of vaccine mandate imposed by the President Joe Biden administration, which is widely considered a serious threat to compel millions of workers in businesses organizations employing over 100 employees to forcefully accept Covid-19 vaccines.
The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans, on Saturday declared that because petitioners “give cause to believe there are grave statutory and constitutional issues with the Mandate, the Mandate is hereby STAYED pending further action by this court.”
The court, accordingly, directed the US government to respond to the motion for a permanent injunction by 5.00pm Monday.
Petitioners, protesting the vaccine mandate in the US, include five strongly Republican US states — Texas, Louisiana, South Carolina, Utah, and Mississippi, as well as several private companies and religious groups.
Texas Governor, Greg Abbott, a conservative Republican, commended the decision of the court in a post on Twitter. He had opposed the use of mask and vaccine mandates.
The Texas Governor had said: “Emergency hearings will take place soon.
“We will have our day in court to strike down Biden’s unconstitutional abuse of authority.”
It was noted that vaccine mandates have a long history in the US but have always been issued by cities or states, not the federal.
The petitioners, therefore, question the constitutionality of a US President issuing such a sweeping nationwide mandate.
Texas Attorney General, Ken Paxton, argued on Saturday that the president had exceeded his authority.
Paxton had tweeted: “The fight is not over, and I will never stop resisting this Admin’s unconstitutional overreach!”