Biden news today: US appeals court reinstates president’s vaccine mandate for federal workers

It’s a moment 46 days — and more than 46 years — in the making.

President Joe Biden on Friday will celebrate the confirmation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson as the first Black woman to reach the Supreme Court, marking the pinnacle of her legal career and bringing his political story full circle.

The vaccine mandate for federal workers that Joe Biden introduced last year has been reinstated by an appeals court after being blocked by a judge in Texas earlier this year.

Under the policy, about 3.5m government workers are required to be vaccinated (religious and medical exemptions notwithstanding) or face disciplinary proceedings and/or dismissal. The government’s appeal against the Texas ruling rested on the claim that the dispute over the mandate should have been heard via a civil service grievance resolution process rather than in judicial proceedings.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki called Texas governor Greg Abbott’s vow to send buses to bring undocumented immigrants to Washington a “public stunt”.

“I’m not aware of what authority the governor would be doing that under. I think it’s pretty clear this is a publicity stunt,” Ms Psaki said when asked about the threat during a press briefing.

“His own office admits that a migrant would need to voluntarily be transported, and he can’t compel them to because, again, enforcement of our country’s immigration laws lies with the federal government, not a state,” Ms Psaki added.

Mr Abbott had said that he would send back immigrants who would cross into Texas to Washington, in response to Biden administration’s move to rescind Title 4.

“We are sending them to the United States capital where the Biden administration will be able to more immediately address the needs of the people that they are allowing to come across our border,” Mr Abbott said.

US deputy treasury secretary Wally Adeyemo told Reuters that the US is ramping up sanctions against Moscow to deprive the country’s “war machine” of money and components needed to sustain its invasion of Ukraine, but curbing a main source of funding.

He said the US and its allies have “a lot more that we can and we will do”. “What this means is that Russia will be deprived of the capital it needs to build up its economy, but also to invest in its war machine,” Mr Adeyemo said.

He said the US and EU will target Russia’s military supply chains to deny access to “things that are important to building their tanks, to supplying missiles and making sure that they have fewer resources”.

“I think the impact will be immediate in the same way the impact on the economy has been immediate” from prior sanctions, Mr Adeyemo said.

US officials estimate that Russia’s economy is headed for a 10 per cent contraction this year and inflation is approaching 20 per cent.

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson will join a Supreme Court which is ever more diverse and conservative than it’s been since the 1930s.

After being selected with a 53-47 vote by the Senate, she will join the court in the next several months, until Justice Stephen Breyer retires.

When Jackson takes the bench as a justice for the first time, in October, she will be one of four women and two Black justices — both high court firsts.

And the nine-member court as a whole will be younger than it’s been for nearly 30 years, when Breyer, now 83, came on board.

A bill to pour $10bn more into Covid programs is reportedly being delayed until after Easter when the senators return from their two-week spring break, reported Politico, citing multiple senators.

“The Republicans are playing politics with the health of the American people,” said senator Elizabeth Warren. “Blocking Covid protection money is a ticking time bomb for public health. So Democrats will come back and try to get the money we need, but this is not a good day for the health of the world.”

This comes after Senate Republicans move to block the legislation from advancing as they were not guaranteed an amendment vote on reinstating Title 42 — a policy by Mr Trump that allowed expulsion of migrants at the border during the pandemic.

Department of Justice sentenced over two years of prison term to a Chinese national for “conspiring to commit economic espionage”.

Xiang Haitao, 44, who was residing in Chesterfield, Missouri, pleaded guilty to the charge in January 2022.

According to court documents, Xiang conspired to steal a trade secret from The Climate Corporation, an internationally based company doing business in St Louis, Missouri, for the purpose of benefitting the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

“Xiang conspired to steal an important trade secret to gain an unfair advantage for himself and the PRC,” said assistant attorney general Matthew G Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division.

“The victim companies invested significant time and resources to develop this intellectual property. Economic espionage is a serious offense that can threaten US companies’ competitive advantage, and the National Security Division is committed to holding accountable anyone who steals trade secrets to benefit a foreign government.”

The eagle-eyed will notice the photo was taken while everyone waited for Senator Rand Paul to vote.

The White House has dismissed concerns over Joe Biden being at the risk of contracting Covid after he met with speaker Nancy Pelosi, who tested positive earlier in the day on Thursday.

“The way a close contact is defined, it’s not arbitrary, it’s not something made up by the White House, it’s CDC guidelines, and how they define it is being within six feet for a cumulative total of 15 minutes over a 24-hour period,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.

“They were not. All of their interactions were publicly available, I think you saw them, and that’s how that assessment is made,” Ms Psaki added.

The two were at the White House, at times in very close proximity, before Ms Pelosi tested positive during an event marking the Affordable Care Act at which former president Barack Obama was also in attendance.

Ketanji Brown Jackson made history on Thursday when the Senate voted 53 to 47 to make her the first Black woman Supreme Court Justice in the country’s history.

Vice President Kamala Harris, herself a historic first as the first Black and Asian American woman vice president, was on hand to preside over the confirmation vote. Ms Jackson’s ascent to the highest court in the land was a moment of celebration for many Democrats.

Eric Garcia reports for The Independent from Capitol Hill.