The battle regarding the Biden administration’s vaccine mandates continues to rage. The current administration keeps pushing its requirement for federal contractors, but lawmakers keep resisting.
Recently, multiple judges around the nation have put a hold on Biden’s mandate, halting the President’s drive to enforce mandates nationwide.
And now, the President has been dealt another loss — a federal judge has thrown up another roadblock.
On September 9, Biden signed an executive order that required federal contractors and subcontractors to follow workplace safety guidelines, which included a vaccination mandate.
If the workers weren’t fully vaccinated by January 18, they would be suspended or terminated. This means everyone would’ve had to have received a second shot by January 4 at the latest.
But ever since this order went into effect, the lawsuits have been flying fast.
Several contractors from 7 states (Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, South Carolina, Utah and West Virginia) all sued the government over the edict, and they’re already making solid headway.
A judge in Kentucky threw down an injunction against Biden’s mandate last week, and that applied to federal workers in Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee.
This week, another federal judge is saying, “not so fast.”
From Fox News:
A federal judge blocked President Biden from implementing a coronavirus vaccine mandate for federal contractors on Tuesday, providing another setback to the administration’s push to mandate vaccines nationwide.
U.S. District Judge R. Stan Baker issued the stay in an Augusta, Georgia court. He said states are “likely to succeed in their claim that the Biden administration exceeded its authority.”
That’s the primary argument critics have had from the start: that the President is overstepping.
In this case, Judge Baker (who was appointed by former President Donald Trump) agreed, and now the mandate has hit yet another snag.
Said the judge in a statement:
The Court acknowledges the tragic toll that the COVID-19 pandemic has wrought throughout the nation and the globe.
However, even in times of crisis this Court must preserve the rule of law and ensure that all branches of government act within the bounds of their constitutionally granted authorities.
It’s another defeat for Biden, but that isn’t stopping the administration from pushing the mandate.
The Department of Justice said last month that it will “vigorously defend” the guidelines set by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and they will work to enforce all vaccine mandates.
This includes the other part of Biden’s order: that all businesses with over 100 employees must get fully vaccinated.
But that has also been stopped, as it was blocked by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. It seems like Biden is running into issues wherever he goes with this mandate.
Millions of citizens question the sweeping rules Biden has enacted, and it’s clear that many lawmakers will keep fighting this “unconstitutional” edict. They argue that freedom can’t simply be eliminated.
We’ll have to see how things shake out but right now, nationwide mandates might face too many hurdles to continue.