A judge in Texas temporarily halted the Biden administration from enforcing its mandate for federal workers to get vaccinated against COVID-19. 

Judge Jeffrey Brown, appointed to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas by former President Donald Trump, ruled that President Joe Biden overstepped his authority by implementing the mandate, citing the Supreme Court's recent decision to reject Biden's vaccine-or-test rule for large businesses.

"The court notes at the outset that this case is not about whether folks should get vaccinated against COVID-19 — the court believes they should," Brown wrote. "is not even about the federal government’s power, exercised properly, to mandate vaccination of its employees."

"It is instead about whether the President can, with the stroke of a pen and without the input of Congress, require millions of federal employees to undergo a medical procedure as a condition of their employment," Brown continued. "That, under the current state of the law as just recently expressed by the Supreme Court, is a bridge too far."

Biden announced the requirement for federal workers in September. Unlike the Biden administration's rule for large businesses, this order mandated vaccinations for the more than 3.5 million employees of the federal workforce without a testing option, except in the case of a religious or medical exemption. 

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Friday that 98% of federal workers are vaccinated, which she called a "remarkable number," adding that "we are confident in our legal authority" regarding the mandate.

The Justice Department already said that it will file an appeal, according to a DOJ spokesperson, suggesting that this fight is not yet over.

The suit was brought by Feds for Medical Freedom, a nonprofit group comprised of federal employees from different agencies opposed to federal vaccine mandates.

“Today’s decision by Judge Brown is a victory for the thousands of men and women who want to serve their government without sacrificing their individual rights,” Marcus Thornton, who heads up the group, said, pledging that the "fight is far from over" and they will utilize "every lawful avenue available" to combat the mandate.