The Augusta Division of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia blocked the nationwide implementation of President Joe Biden's COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal contractors on Tuesday.
The Blaze said Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr made the announcement through a string of Twitter posts. The outlet also underscored that the federal judge's decision is another legal defeat for Biden- the third time his mandate forcing people to get vaccinated was struck down.
"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," Carr said.
"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.
Last month, U.S. District Judge Matthew Schelp issued a temporary injunction on the vaccine mandate pointing to several reasons that included staffing concerns and a bias for healthcare facilities.
"The scale falls clearly in favor of healthcare facilities operating with some unvaccinated employees, staff, trainees, students, volunteers and contractors, rather than the swift, irremediable impact of requiring healthcare facilities to choose between two undesirable choices--providing substandard care or providing no healthcare at all," Schelp said.
This decision was seconded by the United States District Judge Terry Doughty of Louisiana who issued a temporary block on Biden's COVID-19 mandate implemented by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on healthcare workers.
Doughty raised in the 34-page ruling that there were legal challenges on the mandate, which needs to be resolved by the higher court. He underscored in his ruling that the "liberty interests of the unvaccinated requires nothing less."
The lawsuit was filed by 14 states against the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for abusing its power through the COVID-19 vaccine mandate. Doughty then highlighted that the United States of Congress is the one empowered by law to impose a mandate on the vaccines for the healthcare industry and not the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
According to the Office of the Attorney State General, there are three different lawsuits filed by Georgia against the Biden Administration on the vaccine mandates. One is for federal contractors filed by Governor Brian Kemp and Attorney General Chris Carr last October 29. The second is for businesses employing 100 or more workers filed on November 5. While the last is for healthcare workers filed last November 15. All cases are still pending.
Other states have similarly filed a lawsuit on the mandate such as Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Ohio, Tennessee, and Texas.
Arizona filed the lawsuit through Attorney General Mark Brnovich for the "unconstitutional" vaccine mandates with claims that it favors elites and exempts illegal migrants. Brnovich pointed out Biden's "complete disregard" for the United States Constitution by imposing the mandates as part of his COVID-19 Action Plan.
Biden actually eased out on the mandates for federal contractors in early November as it faced the possibility of the said companies dropping their contracts with the government. He instead reinforced the mandate days later among private companies through two policies. This is one each from the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
