Jan 21 (Reuters) – A judge in Texas ruled on Friday that President Joe Biden could not require federal employees to be vaccinated against the coronavirus and blocked the U.S. government from disciplining employees who failed to comply.

Biden issued an order requiring about 3.5 million workers to get vaccinated by Nov. 22 barring a religious or medical accommodation — or else face discipline or firing.

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Brown said the question was whether Biden could “require millions of federal employees to undergo a medical procedure as a condition of their employment. That, under the current state of the law as just recently expressed by the Supreme Court, is a bridge too far.”

Brown, based in Galveston and appointed by former President Donald Trump, said the government could protect public health with less invasive measures, such as masking and social distancing.

The U.S. Department of Justice said it will appeal the ruling.

White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said 98% of federal workers are vaccinated or have sought medical or religious exemptions. “We are confident in our legal authority,” Psaki said in response to the judge’s ruling.

The judge said it was his understanding that the government was going to be begin disciplining non-compliant employees imminently.

Brian Fouche, a survey statistician with the Department of Commerce with 16 years government experience, was told in a Jan. 19 letter that he would be suspended for 14 days beginning Jan. 30 because he refused to disclose his vaccination status, according to court documents.

The letter from the U.S. Census Bureau informed Fouche that his “misconduct is very serious and will not be tolerated,” according to a copy of the letter in court records. The letter said failure to comply with the vaccine requirements could lead to his dismissal.

The judge’s ruling is the latest in a series of court decisions to go against government vaccine requirements.

In mid-January, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked the president’s COVID-19 vaccination-or-testing mandate for large businesses, a policy conservative justices deemed an improper imposition on the lives and health of many Americans. The court allowed a separate federal vaccine requirement for healthcare facilities. read more

A third major vaccine requirement aimed at employees of federal contractors was blocked by a federal judge in December. read more

COVID-19 has killed more than 800,000 people in the United States in the two-year long pandemic and weighed heavily on the economy.

Many large employers such as United Airlines and Tyson Foods Inc have touted their success in using mandates to get nearly all staff vaccinated. The Supreme Court ruling that blocked the mandate for larger businesses prompted some employers, including Starbucks, to abandon vaccine requirements for staff. read more

Reporting by David Shepardson, Diane Bartz and Jeff Mason; writing by Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware; Editing by Howard Goller and Grant McCool

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