COLUMBIA, S.C. (WBTW) — South Carolina and 11 other states sued the Biden administration Monday to block a mandate requiring health care workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
“The Biden Administration has struck once again, attempting to coerce our healthcare workers into being vaccinated, South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson said in a news release. “The Federal Government seeks to bully the sovereign State of South Carolina into submission with the promise of federal funds,
“Our healthcare workers are heroes to all of us and should be able to do their jobs without the Biden Administration’s threats and abuse of power. The rule of law and Constitution will prevail and federal power stopped dead in its tracks.”
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court Western Division of Louisiana, Monroe Division. Louisiana, Montana, Arizona, Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Utah, and West Virginia all joined in on the lawsuit.
“The Biden Administration is playing statutory shell games with the courts in a desperate attempt to justify the unjustifiable,” the lawsuit says. “The Administration has coopted the Medicare and Medicaid system to impose a vaccine on 17 million healthcare workers.”
It also points out numerous other legal problems with the mandate. According to Wilson’s office, the mandate exceeds the authority of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services; violates the Social Security Act’s prohibition on regulations that control the selection and tenure of health care workers; is arbitrary and capricious; violates the spending clause; violates the Anti-Commandeering doctrine; and is unconstitutional because it violates the Tenth Amendment.
In addition, Wilson’s office said the mandate violates the Administrative Procedures Act’s notice-and-comment requirement, the Congressional Review Act’s publication-and-review requirements, and the Social Security Act’s consultation and regulatory-impact-analysis requirements.
The lawsuit asks the court to declare the mandate is unlawful and vacate it, while also preliminarily and permanently blocking the Biden administration from implementing it.
