The judge’s temporary order delivered a legal pause to Kennedy’s vaccine agenda, with U.S. officials signaling they would challenge the ruling in court. In Monday’s order, federal Judge Brian Murphy said Kennedy disregarded long-standing government procedures tied to how scientific committees are reconstituted—procedures Murphy described as codified into law through procedural requirements.
The decision landed in a political moment where Kennedy’s administration had appeared, at least publicly, to be looking beyond vaccines for a broader agenda. Earlier this week, a White House official who requested anonymity to discuss the administration’s thinking said Kennedy had already achieved much of what he set out to do on vaccines and that the administration was focusing more on food.
Supporters of Kennedy’s health overhaul, including activists in the “medical freedom” movement, had credited the secretary’s early actions with rolling back vaccine policies. The Associated Press reported that activists were thrilled by Kennedy’s firing of all 17 members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and the hiring of vaccine critics among replacements, along with changes that downsize the childhood immunization schedule—moves pediatricians opposed.
In Monday’s ruling, Murphy sharply rebuked Kennedy’s approach to the committee process. The judge said Kennedy disregarded certain long-held government processes, including reconstituting a scientific committee that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on vaccines in a way that Murphy said likely violated federal law. Murphy wrote that “there is a method to how these decisions historically have been made – a method scientific in nature and codified into law through procedural requirements,” adding that the government “disregarded those methods and thereby undermined the integrity of its actions.”
U.S. health and law officials said they would not accept the ruling. Health and Human Services spokesman Andrew Nixon said in a statement that the department “looks forward to this judge’s decision being overturned.” Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the administration would appeal and pointed to a separate matter in which another of Murphy’s rulings was lifted by a federal appeals court on Monday.
Blanche also took to X to criticize what he called the judge’s conduct, writing: “How many times can Judge Murphy get reversed in one year?” He continued, “We will keep appealing these lawless decisions, and we will keep winning. The question is, how much embarrassment can this Judge take?”
Kennedy-aligned supporters faulted Murphy’s legal reasoning and described the order as misguided. Mark Gorton, president of the Kennedy-aligned MAHA Institute, said the judge was wrong to treat the HHS bureaucratic process before Kennedy as “some sort of ideal.” Gorton said, “You’ve had all sorts of ACIP decisions for decades, and you never had a judge standing up and saying that his judgment is superior to that of the panelists, even though the ACIP members for years have been incredibly corrupt and incredibly conflicted,” in comments reported by AP.
Kennedy’s allies framed the court action as an opportunity to press on. Dr. Robert Malone, a Kennedy appointee on the vaccine advisory committee, accused Murphy of being a “rogue” judge and called for impeachment, and Malone urged the administration to keep pursuing Kennedy’s vaccine policy changes, writing on Substack that the temporary ruling “is a delay, not a defeat.” Jeffrey Tucker, founder of the Brownstone Institute, said he viewed the order as a “clarifying moment” that could unite MAHA activists after internal disagreements, arguing that it would sharpen focus on “the agenda of medical freedom above all else.”
Even some neutral observers suggested the administration could use the legal interruption in its favor. Sara Rosenbaum, a professor of health law and policy at George Washington University, said the ruling came as the administration already understood that “Kennedy had gotten them into a very bad place,” adding, “I think it hopefully will toughen their resolve to keep getting vaccines off the agenda for now.”
The White House did not respond immediately to a Tuesday inquiry about how the ruling would affect its approach. With the order temporarily stopping Kennedy’s momentum while the government seeks review, the next phase may hinge on how appellate courts address Murphy’s procedural concerns—and whether Kennedy’s allies intensify efforts to keep challenging the vaccine policy process in court.