12/8/21 - Judge Blocks Vaccine Mandate For Federal Contractors

A Judge issues a nationwide injunction against Pres. Biden's vaccination mandate for federal contractors.

-A federal judge issued a nationwide injunction against a vaccine mandate for federal contractors.  

Judge R. Stan Baker, based in Georgia, temporarily blocked implementation of the mandate, after a lawsuit from numerous states and a trade group argued that letting the mandate take effect in January would cause "irreparable injury" to workers who could be forced out of their jobs.

The judge wrote that allowing the rule to move forward "would force Plaintiffs to comply with the mandate, requiring them to make decisions which would significantly alter their ability to perform federal contract which is critical to their operations."

In early November, a federal appeals court issued a stay freezing the administration's efforts to require workers at U.S. companies with at least 100 employees be vaccinated.

"While the Procurement Act explicitly and unquestionably bestows some authority upon the president, the Court is unconvinced, at this stage of litigation, that it authorized him to direct the type of actions" at issue in the case, Judge Baker wrote. In its "practical application," the executive order "goes beyond the administration and management of procurement and contracting" and "operates as a regulation of public health."