Judge blocks Biden's COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal contractors

A U.S. district court judge blocked the Biden administration on Tuesday from enforcing a COVID-19 vaccine mandate on employees of government contractors across the nation. This conservative win adds to a string of losses for President Joe Biden in federal courts. 

Southern District of Georgia Judge R. Stan Baker ruled in favor of multiple contractors across seven states – Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, South Carolina, Utah and West Virginia. 

A district judge in Kentucky last week issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting the Biden administration from enforcing their vaccine mandate on contractors, but it only applied to three states – Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee.

Because one of the plaintiffs in the Georgia decision, Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc., is a trade group with members across the United States, Baker's decision applies nationwide

Baker, a Trump appointee, wrote that the plaintiffs "will likely succeed in their claim that the President exceeded the authorization given to him by Congress" when Biden issued an executive order on Sept. 9 mandating federal contractors to receive COVID-19 vaccines.

The White House announced last month that it was delaying federal contractors' vaccine mandate deadline until January, not December as previously planned.

Last week the Biden administration also pushed back its deadline requiring federal workers to be vaccinated. Federal workers now have until January to be vaccinated.

A federal judge in Louisiana issued a preliminary injunction earlier this month to stop "Biden's national vaccine mandate for healthcare workers," Just the News reported.