
A federal appeals court upheld a decision to temporarily block the federal governmentโs COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal contractors in three states.
A judge in Louisville, Kentucky, issued a ruling blocking the mandate for Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee in November. And on Wednesday, the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals upheld the injunction in a 2โ1 ruling.
The Sixth Appeals Court majority wrote in its Wednesday order that the injunction was upheld โbecause the government has established none of the showings required to obtain a stay.โ
States are โimminently threatened in their proprietary capacities should they renew those existing contracts (thus triggering the mandate as well) or should they choose to bid on new contracts to which the mandate applies,โ the court wrote in its order. โAnd if they chose not to renew such contracts given the contractor mandate, they could lose millions of dollars in funding from the federal government for critical state programs.โ
Defendants had reasonably argued the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for contractors infringes on statesโ rights.
โThey have also plausibly alleged that the federal government has intruded upon an area traditionally left to the statesโthe regulation of the public health of state citizens in general and the decision whether to mandate vaccination in particular,โ the judges wrote Wednesday.
The vaccine requirement for contractors was part of President Joe Bidenโs announcement on sweeping mandates, including the controversial rule that requires workers at companies with 100 or more workers to submit to weekly testing or get the vaccine. Biden also mandated federal workers to get the shot, and the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to have Medicare- and Medicaid-funded health care facilities require their workers to get the shot.
โThis ensures, while the case continues to proceed, that federal contractors in Kentucky arenโt subject to the Biden Administrationโs unlawful mandate,โ Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, a Republican who filed the lawsuit against the mandate, said in a Thursday statement.
On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hold a special session to weigh challenges to Bidenโs vaccine mandate for health care workers and private businesses.
Byย Jack Phillips