The White House has ended remaining COVID-19 federal jobsite vaccination rules triggered by two 2021 executive orders but attorneys for 315 workers at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site say the legal fight should go on.
The administration of President Joe Biden (D) and other defendants in David Donovan versus Brian Vance “have not relinquished their emergency authority but have insisted for the past three years that new threats, such as new COVID-19 variants, remain,” lawyers for the workers, said in a May 12 brief filed with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The workers, including many Hanford security guards, suffered a Religious Freedom Restoration Act violation due to a “sham religious accommodation process,” set up by DOE and its contractors, according to the filing.
But attorneys for the Justice Department said given the White House has ended COVID vaccine requirements for feds and contractors effective May 11, the litigation is now a dead issue.
“Consistent with the May 1 [White House] announcement, the president on May 9 issued an executive order that, effective May 12, revoked the executive orders” from September 2021, Justice said in its own brief.
“Plaintiffs are no longer subject to the vaccination requirements they challenged, the executive orders are no longer able to be enforced, and the purpose of the appeal no longer exists,” the Justice Department said. “Accordingly, this court should dismiss this appeal as moot.”
After the Biden administration’s May 1 announcement that it was ending COVID-19 vaccination requirements for federal employees and contractors, the 9th Circuit called off oral arguments that were scheduled May 8 in the Donovan case. The appeals court told lawyers for the parties to file written arguments by May 12 on whether the case should end.
The appeals court had not ruled on the issue as of Thursday evening.
The Hanford plaintiffs filed this suit in November 2021 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington. After amending the initial complaint a couple of times, the plaintiffs case was dismissed by U.S. District Judge Thomas Rice a year ago.
The plaintiffs, represented by attorneys affiliated with the Silent Majority Foundation, subsequently appealed the case to the 9th Circuit.
