Flurry Of Legal, Other Actions Challenging Federal Vaccine Mandates
At least seven states with State Plans are considering whether to challenge the Biden Administration’s ETS in court, despite the Biden Administration warning that State Plans that fail to comply could be revoked.
This includes Alaska, Arizona, Indiana, Kentucky, South Carolina, Utah, and Wyoming. Separately, numerous Republican state Attorneys General have filed lawsuits against the Biden Administration’s vaccine mandates.
On November 10, NACS announced plans to join a lawsuit to stop President Biden’s vaccine mandate. EMA is likely to file an amicus brief in support of the lawsuit.
On November 5, Attorney General Mark Brnovich (R-AZ), who is co-leading a multi-state coalition of 11 states, filed a lawsuit challenging the Biden Administration and federal officials to stop the ETS, citing the mandate is “unconstitutional, unlawful, and unwise.”
A separate petition filed by the attorneys general of seven other states also seeks to block the mandate. Notably, Kansas Governor Laura Kelly (Democrat), who is preparing for re-election in a predominantly red state, issued a statement opposing President Biden’s workplace vaccine mandate last week.
Meanwhile, Texas Attorney General Paxton (Republican) filed the State of Texas’s Petition for Review directly with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
This petition includes some companies and the states of Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Utah. Governor Ron DeSantis (Republican) announced on Thursday that Florida would also sue the Biden Administration on Friday.
On October 29, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds (Republican) signed House File 902 into law, a measure that requires Iowa employers with mandatory COVID-19 vaccine policies to waive their requirements for employees who seek vaccination exemptions for medical or religious reasons.
The law also allows individuals to qualify for unemployment insurance benefits if terminated for refusing COVID-19 vaccines.
Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts (Republican) signed an executive order last Friday that would prevent state agencies from enforcing coronavirus vaccine mandates on state employees.
Separately, Iowa joined nine other states in suing the Biden Administration last Friday for its Federal contractor vaccine mandate.
The suit challenges the Administration’s “use of federal procurement statutes to create sweeping new power to issue decrees over large swaths of the U.S. economy and take over areas of traditional state power.”
On Thursday, three other states – Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio – filed a separate lawsuit against the Federal Government to stop the vaccine mandate for Federal contractors from taking effect.
