A Washington, D.C. superior court judge ruled on Thursday that Mayor Muriel Bowser’s vaccine mandate for city workers is unlawful.
The ruling comes in response to a lawsuit the D.C. Police Union and other law enforcement groups filed in February.
Bowser’s August 2021 order forced D.C. government employees who did not apply for religious or medical exemptions to either show proof of vaccination or submit to weekly testing. By November 2021, however, the mayor gave the D.C. city administrator the green light to remove the testing option. Months later, boosters were also mandated and enforcement actions were announced, which included suspension or termination.
The mandate frustrated many within the city’s police ranks. D.C. Police Chief Robert J. Contee III told the city council in March that the department was losing a “significant” number of recruits because they did not want to be vaccinated, DCist reported at the time. Other police unions, including in New York City and Chicago, challenged vaccination mandates in those cities as well.
A D.C. Superior Court judge in February denied the police groups’ efforts to block the mandate. But Ross said Thursday that Bowser lacked the legal authority to impose the mandate, arguing in part that she did not have the statutory power to do so, and that the D.C. Police Officers Standards and Training Board had the ability to establish its own health standards for the department. (WaPo)
While the mayor had an interest in curbing the spread of COVID-19, she nevertheless cannot "act unlawfully" to do so, the order says.
Bowser is “permanently enjoined from implementing, imposing and/or enforcing the covid-19 vaccine mandate ... against the plaintiffs,” the judge writes, adding that disciplinary actions “shall immediately cease and be dismissed with full reimbursement to be provided to all [Fraternal Order of Police] members for any loss of benefits, pay, or rights and all related disciplinary proceedings to be expunged from their records.”
DC Police Union Chairman Gregg Pemberton praised the judge's order, calling it a "significant victory."
DC Superior Court Judge Rules Mayor’s Vaccine Mandate Unlawful
— Adam Shaatal (@ShaatalDCPU) August 25, 2022
“Now, all of our members can go back to doing the necessary work of trying to protect our communities from crime and violence without unlawful threats of discipline and termination.” -@G_Pem @DCPoliceUnion pic.twitter.com/JzXHMl5iVt
“This has been a long and unnecessary fight,” Pemberton said in a statement. “Nonetheless, we are pleased that Judge Ross agreed with our arguments and issued this ruling. Now, all of our members can go back to doing the necessary work of trying to protect our communities from crime and violence without unlawful threats of discipline and termination.”