Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky at Frankfort.
3:21-cv-00055—Gregory F. Van Tatenhove, District Judge.
Argued: July 21, 2022
Decided and Filed: January 12, 2023
Before: SILER, McKEAGUE, and LARSEN, Circuit Judges.
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OPINION
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LARSEN, Circuit Judge. A fundamental tenet of our constitutional order is that the
President’s authority “must stem either from an act of Congress or from the Constitution itself.”
Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer, 343 U.S. 579, 585 (1952). The critical question in this
case is whether the President heeded this rule when he ordered all federal agencies to include in
their new contracts a provision obligating contract recipients to require their employees to wear
face masks at work and be vaccinated against COVID-19. The President has claimed no inherent
constitutional power here; instead, he maintains that the Federal Property and Administrative
Services Act of 1949 authorized his order. The district court and a motions panel of this court
concluded that the President likely exceeded his powers under that Act. We agree. We therefore
affirm the district court’s decision to preliminarily enjoin the federal government from enforcing
the mandate, but we modify the scope of the injunction. |