Biden’s $15 Contractor Minimum Wage Weighed as ‘Major Question’

A federal appeals court in Denver wrestled with the scope of President Joe Biden’s move to boost the minimum wage for federal contractors to $15 per hour, a potential determining factor in whether the pay hike survives judicial review.

The order—implemented through a Labor Department rule—broadly regulates wages for roughly one-fifth of the US workforce, lawyers for recreational businesses and a coalition of Republican-led states told the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit during oral argument Wednesday.

But a Biden administration attorney countered that the order simply directs the federal government to renew or reach new ...