6th Circuit to Oversee Lawsuits of Employer Vaccination Mandate
WASHINGTON — The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will preside over all litigation stemming from the Biden administration’s decision to require companies with at least 100 employees to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations or weekly testing, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation announced Tuesday.
The conservative-leaning court based in Ohio was chosen by a pingpong lottery on Tuesday.
Now, all litigation over the employer vaccine mandate will be consolidated and heard by an as-yet unnamed three-judge panel on the court.
Although the 6th Circuit has twice as many judges appointed by Republican presidents than appointed by Democrats, the selection, however random, represents something of a middle ground when it comes to the nation’s 12 circuit courts.
Republicans and hardcore conservatives no doubt would have preferred the cases land in the staunchly conservative 5th Circuit, a court that upheld the controversial Texas abortion law currently before the Supreme Court and another ruling that threw out a key provision of the Affordable Care Act.
Those on the other end of the political spectrum were likely hoping for the famously liberal 9th Circuit to get the case.
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