20 States are suing Biden over vaccine mandate targeting federal contractors

 Twenty states have filed lawsuits to block President Joe Biden’s recent Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine mandate for federal contractors.

The wave of lawsuits began in mid-September when Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich filed the first lawsuit against Biden’s vaccine mandate.

“The federal government cannot force people to get the COVID-19 vaccine,” said Brnovich in a press release following the filing of the lawsuit. “The Biden Administration is once again flouting our laws and precedents to push their radical agenda.”

On Oct. 28, Florida became the second state to sue the Biden administration over the mandate. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis said the mandate is “unlawfully jeopardizing thousands of jobs.”

“Just because you’re a business that does federal contracts, it’s not right for the federal government to come in and rewrite those contracts and then try and shoehorn this in,” said DeSantis.

The very next day, a group of 10 states filed a lawsuit against an executive order signed by Biden last month that mandated vaccinations for all federal contractors, including millions of employees of private businesses that work with the government. This mandate does not provide an opt-out option that involves regular COVID-19 testing.  

The 10 states that filed a lawsuit together are Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming. According to their lawsuit, they called the mandate “unconstitutional, unlawful and unwise.”

“If the federal government attempts to unconstitutionally exert its will and force federal contractors to mandate vaccinations, the workforce and businesses could be decimated, further exacerbating the supply chain and workforce crises,” wrote Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt in a statement released on Oct. 29. “The federal government should not be mandating vaccinations, and that’s why we filed suit today – to halt this illegal, unconstitutional action.”

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. The states are asking the court to declare Biden’s vaccine mandate unconstitutional and to block the administration from enforcing public health mandates for federal contractors such as vaccinations and masking requirements.

Vaccine mandates force employers to make an impossible choice: fire the unvaccinated or lose federal contracts

Seven other Republican states brought another challenge against the federal vaccine mandate on Oct. 31.

The lawsuit is led by Georgia and it includes the states of Alabama, Idaho, Kansas, South Carolina, Utah and West Virginia. These states are calling the mandate unconstitutional, illegal and “logistically unworkable” and they are asking the courts to place a permanent injunction on the mandate.

According to the lawsuit, the vaccine mandate “forces contractors to make an impossible choice.”

The mandate either forces employers to take enforcement action that may include firing every single unvaccinated worker they have or lose a lot of business from lucrative federal contracts.

“And because the administration has already amended the guidance multiple times, there is no telling what other onerous obligations may put state agencies in breach at a moment’s notice,” the lawsuit stated.

“We will not allow the Biden administration to circumvent the law or force hardworking Georgians to choose between their livelihood or this vaccine,” said Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp.

“Biden has again demonstrated open disdain for the rule of law in seizing power Congress never gave him,” said Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall.

The state of Texas also filed a separate lawsuit against the vaccine mandate on Oct. 29 in a federal district court in Galveston, Texas.

“The Biden administration has repeatedly expressed its disdain for Americans for Americans who choose not to get a vaccine, and it has committed repeated and abusive federal overreach to force upon Americans something they do not want,” said Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who filed the lawsuit.

“The federal government does not have the ability to strip individuals of their choice to get a vaccine or not. If the president thinks his patience is wearing thin, he is clearly underestimating the lack of patience from Texans whose rights he is infringing.”