By Daniel Wiessner
Sept 27 (Reuters) - A federal judge in Texas has ruled that President Joe Biden lacked the power to order U.S. government contractors to pay workers a minimum wage of $15 an hour, and blocked the plan from being enforced in three states.
In a ruling late on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Drew Tipton in Victoria decided that because the Democratic president's 2021 executive order potentially affects millions of workers and has "vast economic and political significance," only Congress had the power to adopt it.
Tipton, an appointee of Republican former President Donald Trump, blocked the Biden administration from enforcing the $15 minimum wage in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi, states that last year filed a lawsuit challenging the executive order. State agencies often receive federal contracts.
The judge paused his decision for seven days to allow the Biden administration to file an appeal.
Tipton made the ruling in part on the basis of what is called the major questions doctrine, a judicial approach that the U.S. Supreme Court has employed to invalidate major Biden policies including student debt relief deemed lacking clear congressional authorization. Tipton also found that Biden ran afoul of a federal law called the Procurement Act, which governs the way goods and services are purchased by federal agencies.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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