Governor Brian Kemp and Attorney General Chris Carr have filed another lawsuit challenging the Biden administration’s vaccine mandates, this time for health care workers.
The emergency regulation, issued on Nov. 5 by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, mandates full COVID-19 vaccination for all eligible staff at health care facilities that participate in the Medicare and Medicaid programs by Jan. 4, 2022.
“After healthcare heroes went above and beyond the call of duty to keep Americans safe and healthy throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Joe Biden is now threatening their livelihood if they refuse COVID-19 vaccination,” said Kemp. He warned of a worsening worker shortage in the healthcare industry if the mandates are upheld.
“We will continue to fight this repeated, unconstitutional overreach by Joe Biden and his administration in court,” Kemp said.
Georgia joined 11 other Republican-led states in filing the lawsuit with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana. They’re asking the court to prevent the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and CMS from enforcing the mandate on individuals working at Medicare and Medicaid-certified facilities.
According to the lawsuit, the mandate:
• Exceeds CMS’s statutory authority under the Social Security Act;
• Involves an unlawful attempt to supervise or control the practice of medicine in violation of federal law;
• Was issued without statutorily required public notice and comment;
• Violates the Congressional Review Act;
• Is arbitrary and capricious;
• Was issued without consulting the appropriate state and local agencies in violation of federal law;
• Was issued without public notice or comment as required for all new rules that will have a significant impact on rural hospitals;
• Violates the Spending Clause by placing an unconstitutional condition on receipt of federal funds;
• Violates the Anti-Commandeering Doctrine by directing state officers to administer federal law; and
• Violates the Tenth Amendment because the federal government lacks the power to mandate vaccines.
On October 29, Kemp and Carr sued the Biden administration in the Southern District of Georgia challenging the vaccine mandate for federal contractors. A hearing on the plaintiffs’ request for a preliminary injunction is scheduled for Dec. 7.
Earlier this month, on November 5, Kemp and Carr also filed suit in the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to challenge a vaccine mandate for employers with 100 or more workers.
