A U.S. appeals court panel seemed divided on Wednesday over whether a civilian Navy employee can challenge President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal workers in court or must first go through an administrative process. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit heard arguments in a bid by the worker, Jason Payne, to revive his lawsuit claiming the requirement to receive the vaccine or face termination violates federal employees’ constitutional rights.
Biden last year required about 3.5 million government workers to get vaccinated if they did not qualify for a religious or medical exemption, or face discipline. The White House has said that more than 97% of federal workers complied with the mandate. A federal judge in Washington, D.C., ruled in May that because Payne’s claims related to workplace conditions, he was required to go through an administrative complaint process for federal civil servants before taking the case to court.
Payne’s lawyer, Gene Hamilton of conservative group America First Legal, said during Wednesday’s arguments that in order to go through the complaint process, Payne would first have to be disciplined or fired. Circuit Judge Judith Rogers sounded skeptical. She noted that Payne has claimed that he was humiliated for not receiving the COVID-19 vaccine and was unable to carry out all of his job duties, while also arguing that he had not suffered any concrete harms that would trigger an administrative complaint.