Appeals Court Voids Biden’s $15 Federal Contractor Minimum Wage, Citing Overreach

A federal appeals court has ruled that President Joe Biden exceeded his authority by mandating a $15 minimum wage for federal contract workers. According to a Nov. 5 opinion, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals determined that the executive order, issued in April 2021, overstepped presidential powers under the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act (FPASA), which grants the president certain powers to make federal procurement more efficient. The court’s 2–1 majority opinion stated that the authority conferred to the president by the act does not extend to setting minimum wage standards for contractors. “The Government’s preferred interpretation would wildly expand the President’s authority,” Judge Ryan Nelson wrote in the opinion. “It would allow the President to require that all federal contractors certify that their employees take daily vitamins, live in smoke-free homes, exercise three times a week, or even, at the extremity, take birth control in order to reduce absenteeism relating to childbirth and care.”...