Biden Contractor Vaccine Mandate Meets Tough Fifth Circuit Panel

The Biden administration faces an uphill battle at a federal appeals court in New Orleans to revive his Covid-19 vaccine mandate for government-contractor workers amid concerns that he seemed to have overstepped his authority.

Two judges at the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit traded sharp exchanges during oral argument Monday with a government attorney, repeatedly questioning the legality of Biden’s September 2021 mandate for companies that do business with the federal government. They echoed arguments by a coalition of three states—Louisiana, Mississippi, and Indiana—challenging the mandate that Biden’s order, if affirmed, would set precedent that goes beyond ...