The state of Florida won a preliminary injunction challenging Joe Biden's COVID vaccine mandate for federal contractors and subcontractors. This is the fourth time Biden's mandate was shot down in court.
According to a report published on Charisma News by the pro-freedom legal group Liberty Counsel, President Biden signed Executive Order 14042 on Sept. 9, 2021, requiring government contractors and subcontractors to get "fully vaccinated."
Consequently, the state of Florida filed a lawsuit against Biden, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and the General Services Administration.
A preliminary injunction was ordered against Biden's federal contractor jab requirement in Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee on Nov. 30 by U.S. District Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove in the Eastern District of Kentucky.
On Dec. 7, U.S. District Judge R. Stan Baker expanded the injunction to include all of the United States. This happened after seven states, namely Georgia, Alabama, Idaho, Kansas, South Carolina, Utah, and West Virginia filed a similar case against the mandate.
Yet again, an injunction against Biden's COVID jab mandate for federal contractors in ten states, including Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming was granted on Dec. 20 by U.S. Magistrate Judge David D. Noce.
U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday became the fourth judge to rule against Biden's order that government contractors be required to get the COVID jab.
According to his December 22 ruling, Judge Merryday pointed out that Biden's "Executive Order 14042 exceeds the President's authority" and "intrudes into a matter traditionally committed to the state."
Liberty Counsel specifically noted from the ruling that Florida demonstrates the possibility of the mandates causing "irreparable economic injury," and that denying the injunction "would substantially injure Florida entities faced with violating either a federal contract or state law."
The issue between state and federal law reportedly came as a result of the passing of the "Keep Florida Free" joint agenda by the Florida legislature in November 2021, which prohibits the imposition of vaccine mandates on public and private sector workers in the state.
To date, there are now four judges who have ruled against Biden's requirement that government contractors get a COVID shot - and there could be more.
On January 7, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in four such mandate cases. Two of the cases concern the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), while the other two are related to the health care mandate, namely those involving the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
It is estimated that 17 million workers will be required to be fully vaccinated in order to keep their jobs if Biden's mandate is not contested.
So far, 27 states with Republican governors or attorneys general are among those opposing the mandate, according to a CNBC report.
"Joe Biden and the federal government have clearly overstepped their bounds in demanding a COVID shot mandate for federal contractors," Liberty Counsel founder and chairman Mat Staver noted.
"Now that four federal judges have agreed, it's time for the federal government to reconsider its enforcement role and its relationship with state governments," he added.
