Eleventh U.S. Court of Appeal oral arguments on a federal district judge’s order blocking the Joe Biden administration mandate that most federal contractor employees be vaccinated against COVID-19 will not be livestreamed Friday, but a recording should be posted online early next week, a court representative said Tuesday.
Streaming of oral arguments before the Atlanta-based appeals court was used during the COVID-19 pandemic but the practice is occurring less now that most such hearings before a three-judge panel are happening in person again, an employee in the clerk of court’s office said by phone to Weapons Complex Morning Briefing.
However, a recording of the oral arguments is typically available on the court’s oral arguments page one or two business days afterwards, the court representative said.
According to the appeals court calendar, the appeals panel will hear oral arguments sometime after 10 a.m. Eastern Time. In the original case, the state of Georgia and others sued the President of the United States and others.
In December 2021, U.S. District Judge Stan Baker in Southern Georgia held that the Biden administration overstepped its authority by using the Procurement Act to mandate contract workers to be inoculated against the potentially deadly virus.
The Department of Energy, which recently ended maximum telework for federal employees, has said well over 90% of its civil servants and contractors are now vaccinated against COVID-19. Litigation brought by the holdouts continued to percolate through the federal courts as of Tuesday.
