AG Alan Wilson joins lawsuit to stop vaccine mandate for federal contract workers
November 1, 2021
South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson has joined a lawsuit aimed at blocking the requirement for federal contract workers to get vaccinated against COVID-19. South Carolina is joining a lawsuit filed by Georgia’s governor and its University System Board of Regents.
“This is not about whether vaccines are a good idea,” Attorney General Wilson said. “I’m fully vaccinated and I encourage anyone who can to get it. But the way the Biden administration went about this is unconstitutional and I’m sworn to uphold the Constitution. No one designated President Biden as King Joseph the First.”
Attorney General Wilson explains that, under the Tenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, powers that are not delegated to the United States are reserved for the States or the People. Neither Article II of the U.S. Constitution nor any act of Congress authorizes federal agencies of the executive branch to implement the Contractor Mandate. That’s a police power left to the States under the Tenth Amendment. The Biden administration’s actions violate basic principles of separation of powers and federalism and ultimately threaten the liberty interests of all Americans.
By implementing this mandate that any federal contractor is required to have its employees vaccinated against COVID-19, the Biden administration has violated the Tenth Amendment. Therefore, South Carolina and Georgia argue that the Contractor Mandate was adopted by an unconstitutional exercise of authority by the Biden administration and must be struck down.
The Director of the Office of Management and Budget said of the Executive Order that requiring contractors and subcontractors to be vaccinated would improve economy and efficiency by reducing absenteeism and lowering labor costs, but the OMB provided no research or data to support that claim. The Contractor Mandate was also never published to the Federal Register for the purpose of receiving public comment, as required.
The Biden administration’s actions violate basic principles of separation of powers and federalism and ultimately threaten the liberty interests of all Americans.
The lawsuit requests that the Court declare the Contractor Mandate unlawful, unconstitutional, and unenforceable and grant a temporary, preliminary and permanent injunction to block its enforcement.
