Tag: Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals

Court Ordered to Reconsider Biden Admin Green Investing Rule Following Landmark Supreme Court Ruling

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Joe Biden

A federal appeals court ordered a judge on Thursday to reconsider blocking a Biden administration rule that allows environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing in employee retirement plans following a landmark Supreme Court ruling.

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a Texas judge must reconsider a decision upholding a Department of Labor rule, which took effect in February 2023 and allows retirement plans to consider factors like racial justice and climate change when investing to break ties in options of equal quality. The appellate court sent back the ruling because it relied on a legal doctrine called Chevron deference, which the Supreme Court overturned in June.

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Supreme Court Agrees to Take Up Challenge to Texas’ Porn Age Verification Law

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Person using a smartphone

The Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to take up a challenge to Texas’ law intended to prevent minors from accessing porn websites.

Texas’ law, which it enacted in June 2023, requires websites that publish “sexual material harmful to minors” to confirm its users are over 18 years old. A district court initially blocked Texas from enforcing the law, but the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals later allowed it to take effect.

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Supreme Court Tosses Doctors’ Challenge to Abortion Pill

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Mifepristone boxes

The Supreme Court sided unanimously Thursday against several doctors and pro-life medical associations who brought a challenge to the abortion pill.

In FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, the Supreme Court held that the doctors do not have standing to challenge the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) decision to roll back safety regulations for the abortion pill. While recognizing the plaintiffs have “sincere legal, moral, ideological, and policy objections to elective abortion and to FDA’s relaxed regulation of mifepristone,” Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote in the majority rulings that those kind of objections are not enough to show the doctors would be injured by the FDA’s actions, noting the federal courts are “the wrong forum” for addressing their concerns.

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FDA Agrees to Remove Anti-Ivermectin Posts Off the Internet in Lawsuit Settlement

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Ivermectin

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has reportedly settled a lawsuit brought by three doctors who accused the health regulator of interfering with their ability to practice medicine and prescribe Ivermectin to treat COVID.

Dr. Mary Talley Bowden, Dr. Paul E. Marik and Dr. Robert L. Apter sued the FDA in June of 2022, asking the court to: “Hold unlawful and set aside any FDA actions directing or opining on whether ivermectin should be used for certain off-label purposes, including treatment of COVID-19.”

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Appeals Court Strikes Down ATF’s ‘Ghost Gun’ Restrictions

Just the News

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday unanimously struck down the Biden administration’s restrictions on “ghost guns,” or firearms without serial numbers, determining that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) lacked authority to enact them.

The decision upholds a lower court decision that held the ATF exceeded its authority. The U.S. Supreme Court had allowed the restrictions to take effect while the case made its way through the appeals process.

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Appeals Court Shoots Down Challenges to Nasdaq Rule Requiring Companies to Have at Least Two ‘Diverse’ Board Members

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A federal appeals court rejected challenges Wednesday to a Nasdaq rule mandating that companies listed on the exchange have a female and an underrepresented minority on their board, or explain why they cannot meet the requirement.

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals shot down lawsuits filed by the National Center for Public Policy Research and the Alliance for Fair Board Recruitment against the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for approving the rule in August 2021. The rule requires Nasdaq-listed companies to provide information on gender, racial and LGBTQ+ status of their board of directors, mandating that at least two board members fall into one of those “diverse” categories.

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Censorship Case Involving State Collusion with Social Media Companies Could Be Heard by the Supreme Court

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Censorship

The Supreme Court could hear a case questioning a California agency’s coordination with Twitter to censor election-related “misinformation.”

O’Handley v. Weber, which concerns the California Secretary of State’s Office of Election Cybersecurity’s work with Twitter to monitor “false or misleading” election information, was appealed to the Supreme Court on June 8. The case raises questions similar to those posed in the free speech lawsuit Missouri v. Biden, now being appealed in the Fifth Circuit: Can the government lawfully induce private actors to censor protected speech?

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Court Vacates Contempt Order Against Catherine Englebrecht and Gregg Phillips

Neil Jones

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in favor of Texas-based True the Votes’ Catherine Engelbrecht and Gregg Phillips by vacating a contempt order filed against them by a district court.

“Catherine and Gregg offer their profound gratitude to the Fifth Circuit’s vindication and are committed more strongly than ever to defending the integrity of American elections,” according to a statement from True the Vote.

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Biden Admin Promises Legal ‘Response’ After Court Declares DACA Illegal

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The Biden administration says it will take legal action after a court declared Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) illegal Wednesday.

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling “deeply disappointed” Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who said his department will work with the Department of Justice (DOJ) to devise an “appropriate legal response.” The case will go back to a lower court while nearly 600,000 DACA recipients currently in the U.S. will be able to remain in the program.

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Tennessee Joins Arizona and 10 Other AGs in Lawsuit Aimed to Cleanse Federal Regulations Hampering Washing Machines, Dishwashers

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Twelve attorneys general filed an opening brief Friday in a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for changes made this year to energy and water efficiency standards for dishwashers and washing machines.

“These arbitrary washing machine regulations are unlawful, ineffective, and absolutely ridiculous,” Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, co-leader of a suit in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals against the DOE and Secretary Jennifer Granholm, said in a statement. “They should be hung out to dry as soon as possible.”

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OSHA Suspends Vaccine Mandate After Emergency Temporary Standard Struck Down by Court

Peter D'Abrosca

After The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday to keep its stay of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) emergency rule that would require employers of more than 100 employees to mandate COVID-19 vaccines in place, the federal agency says that it will no longer pursue private sector vaccine mandates at this time. 

“On November 12, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit granted a motion to stay OSHA’s COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing Emergency Temporary Standard, published on November 5, 2021 (86 Fed. Reg. 61402) (“ETS”),” OSHA said in a statement. “The court ordered that OSHA ‘take no steps to implement or enforce’ the ETS ‘until further court order.’ While OSHA remains confident in its authority to protect workers in emergencies, OSHA has suspended activities related to the implementation and enforcement of the ETS pending future developments in the litigation.”

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Fifth Circuit: Challenge to Biden Vaccine Mandate ‘Virtually Certain to Succeed’ Based on Constitution and Law

Peter D'Abrosca
woman with a hard hat and safety glasses on

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Friday to keep its stay of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) emergency rule that would require employers of more than 100 employees to mandate COVID-19 vaccines in place, determining that the private businesses challenging the rule were “very likely to win” their case.

The case is BST Holdings v. OSHA, No. 21-60845. BST Holdings, along with a host of other companies and several states, including Louisiana, Texas, South Carolina, Mississippi and Utah, sued President Joe Biden’s OSHA to halt the vaccine mandate.

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