Conservative Fifth Circuit Agrees That Tangerine Appointed USDC Judge Jones (TX), In Trial Court, Had No Jurisdiction To Hear The Anti-Vaccine Federal Workers' Complaint.

As is almost always true, once these cases are appealed out of Trump-appointee's trial courts, the result is. . . the trial court had no jurisdiction (again, in Texas) -- to pontificate, about matters beyond its pay-grade.

This one comes from very conservative panels in New Orleans, to boot -- but no surprise, if one decides them on black latter law, rather than political speechifying.

. . .[I]n construing Title VII of the CSRA, the Supreme Court has stated that the term “‘working conditions’ . . . naturally refers . . . to the ‘circumstances’ or ‘state of affairs’ attendant to one’s performance of a job.” Fort Stewart Schs. v. Fed. Lab. Rels. Auth., 495 U.S. 641, 645 (1990). Executive Order 14043 qualifies as a significant change to the circumstances attending the job performance of federal employees. Indeed, the Order is explicit that whether an employee has received a COVID-19 vaccine affects “the efficiency of the civil service.” 86 Fed. Reg. at 50,989. . . .

We conclude that the CSRA precluded the district court’s jurisdiction.

Accordingly, the plaintiffs’ claim for preliminary injunctive relief fails because they have not shown a substantial likelihood of success on the merits. We do not reach the parties’ arguments regarding the other requirements for a preliminary injunction. . . .

For the foregoing reasons, we VACATE the district court’s preliminary injunction and REMAND to the district court with instructions to DISMISS the case. . . .

Now you know -- this has been a good day, for the rule of even handed justice under the law. . . on KBJ Day, 2022. Smiling, widely. . . into the night. . . .

नमस्ते