On Thursday, a federal appeals court upheld President Joe Biden’s requirement that all federal employees be vaccinated against COVID-19.

In a 2-1 decision, a Fifth Circuit panel overturned the lower court and ordered the lawsuit challenging the authorization to be dismissed. The ruling was a rare victory for the administration at the New Orleans Court of Appeals, saying a federal judge had no jurisdiction in the case and those challenging the requirement could have sought administrative remedies under civil service law.

Biden issued an executive order on Sept. 9 requiring all executive branch employees to be vaccinated, except for medical and religious reasons. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Brown, who was appointed to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas by then-President Donald Trump, issued a nationwide injunction against the requirement in January.

When the case was debated in the Fifth Circuit last month, government lawyers noted that before Brown’s ruling, district judges in more than a dozen jurisdictions had rejected challenges to vaccine requirements for federal workers.

The administration has argued that the Constitution gives the president the same power as the chief executive of a private company to require employees to be vaccinated as head of the federal workforce.

Lawyers who challenge the mandate point to a recent Supreme Court opinion that the government cannot compel private employers to require employees to be vaccinated.

Twelve of the Fifth Circuit’s 17 serving justices were nominated by Republicans, including six Trump appointees.

Justices Carl Stewart and James Dennis, nominated by President Bill Clinton, have a majority. Judge Reza Barksdale, a senior judge nominated by President George H.W. Bush, dissented, saying the relief sought by the challengers did not fall under the Civil Service Reform Act cited by the administration.

Even before Thursday’s ruling, the case marked an ideological divide in the appeals court.

Another panel declined to block Brown’s ruling during an appeal in February. The group voted 2-1. Most gave no reason – Ronald Reagan presidential candidate Judge Jerry Smith and Trump presidential candidate Don Willett.

But President Barack Obama’s nominee, Judge Stephen Higginson, raised a lengthy dissent, saying that a single district judge, “lacking public health expertise and incapable of being accountable for tenure,” should not be able to prevent the president from ordering many of the same types of Private sector CEOs have ordered COVID-19 safety measures.