Earlier this year, the Biden Administration announced that federal contractors would be required to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. At the time, the decision was met with approval within several parts of the country. However, the opposition to the President’s mandate continues to grow by the day.
The Associated Press has reported that nineteen different states have filed lawsuits in hopes of having the mandate struck down. Attorney generals in South Dakota, Alaska, Arkansas, New Hampshire, Iowa, Montana, Nebraska, Missouri, North Dakota and Wyoming have filed one lawsuit with a federal court in Missouri. Meanwhile, Idaho, Georgia, Alabama, Utah, Idaho, Kansas, West Virginia and South Carolina filed their own joint lawsuit in Georgia. Not to mention, Florida and Texas filed their own lawsuits.
“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,” Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt said, according to the Associated Press.
“The federal government should not be mandating vaccinations, and that’s why we filed suit today – to halt this illegal, unconstitutional action.”
In each lawsuit, attorneys argue that. the President does not have the power to issue such a mandate. Moreover, each suit claims that the 10th Amendment allows for individual states to institute such a mandate.
Many of the lawsuits threaten the mass exit of federal contractors if the mandate is not repealed. At this time, 17 of the 19 states that have filed lawsuits trail the national vaccination average.
