The U.S. Justice Department, acting on behalf of the Biden administration, is calling on a federal court for an emergency order that would throw out a recent ruling that halted implementation of the president’s controversial mandate on COVID-19 vaccination, testing and mask-wearing for larger employers.

On Nov. 6, the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay on the regulations, which would require workers at companies with 100 or more employees in the United States to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by Jan. 4, 2022, or to submit to weekly coronavirus tests to confirm they don’t have the virus. Under the rules, the unvaccinated were to begin wearing masks on the job as of Dec. 5.

Still, those regulations were temporarily shelved by the appeals court ruling, prompting the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to subsequently declare that it was suspending implementation and enforcement pending future court outcomes.

The Justice Department now wants the stay abolished so the mandate can proceed on the planned time schedule.

In part, the administration argues that the stay was incorrectly instituted because states and private companies that sought the halt order are unable to demonstrate that their “claimed injuries outweigh the interest in protecting employees from a dangerous virus while the litigation proceeds.”

“The Fifth Circuit’s stay should be lifted immediately,” the Justice Department stated in its filing. “That court’s principal rationale was that OSHA allegedly lacked statutory authority to address the grave danger of COVID-19 in the workplace on the ground that COVID-19 is caused by a virus and also exists outside the workplace. That rationale has no basis in the statutory text.”

In all, more than 30 lawsuits have been filed against the mandate, according to various media outlets. Some of the suits argue that the vaccination/testing requirements are unconstitutional and should be struck down, while others, like legal challenges from certain large unions, assert the mandate should be expanded to also cover companies with fewer than 100 employees.

On Tuesday, Nov. 16, the various cases were consolidated to be heard by the Ohio-based Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The mandate, if implemented, stands to apply to an estimated 84 million workers. Larger companies in the promotional products industry, as well as end-clients across industries, will be subject to the rules if a court determines they can proceed.