On December 7, a federal judge in Georgia blocked the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate for federal contractors.
“A Georgia district court has ordered the federal government to temporarily stop enforcing the vaccine mandate for federal contractors. This nationwide halt is the result of our own lawsuit and marks the third of Biden’s vaccine mandates to be stopped by the courts,” Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr declared.
“We will continue to stand up for the rule of law to protect our state and our citizens from this unconstitutional and unprecedented federal overreach,” he added.
The vaccine mandate was slated to take effect on January 4, 2022, and would apply to any company contracted to work with the federal government. According to Bloomberg Law, nearly a quarter of the American workforce would be subject to this mandate.
President Biden’s order compels major American corporations, including General Motors, Google, Lockheed Martin, and Microsoft, to require that their workers receive COVID-19 vaccinations. The mandate does not allow workers the alternative of refusing the vaccination but submitting to regular testing.
Several states filed lawsuits against the mandate, alleging that its passage was unconstitutional.
Similarly, a federal judge in Kentucky granted a preliminary injunction against the order after a lawsuit filed by Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee.
Other states such as Arizona, Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, and Georgia have also filed federal lawsuits against the mandate.
The latest vaccination requirements for federal contractors were part of a broader set of COVID-19 orders Biden imposed which compel Americans to receive the treatment or lose employment.
According to Chris Pandolfo of The Blaze, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued a second mandate in the form of an emergency order, requiring private companies with over 100 employees have their employees either get vaccinated for COVID-19 or go through weekly testing.
Companies that are found not to be in compliance with the mandate will be subject to steep fines.
Healthcare companies currently receiving money from Medicare and Medicaid were also required by the order to make vaccination mandatory for employees.
Multiple lawsuits have been filed against each of these requirements. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit blocked the Biden administration from enforcing the OSHA mandate back in November.
The administration has since complied with the Court of Appeals’ decision to halt the order, placing enforcement of vaccination requirements on hold until further litigation settles the matter.