ST. LOUIS, Mo. – A judge issued a preliminary injunction on Monday halting the Biden administration’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal healthcare workers following a lawsuit from Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt.
Schmitt filed the 44-page complaint in the U.S. District Court in Eastern Missouri alongside Nebraska AG Doug Peterson and eight additional states earlier this month, making it the first lawsuit brought against the recent vaccine mandates.
The Court’s ruling prevents the Biden administration from enforcing the vaccine mandate on healthcare workers in any of the plaintiff states, arguing that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services didn’t have the authority to issue the mandate.
“This is a huge victory for healthcare workers in Missouri and across the country, including rural hospitals who were facing near certain collapse due to this mandate,” Schmitt said in a press release. “While today’s ruling is a victory, there’s more work to be done, and I will keep fighting to push back on this unprecedented federal overreach.”
The lawsuit stated that the vaccine mandate exercised “power far beyond what was delegated to the federal government by constitutional mandate or congressional action.” The complaint also said the mandate violated the Tenth Amendment, arguing the “power to impose vaccine mandates, to the extent that any such power exists, is a power reserved to the States.”
The Missouri Attorney General’s Office has also filed suit to halt OSHA’s vaccine mandate on private employers and the mandate on federal contractors, both of which are awaiting court rulings.
With Schmitt being a consistent and passionate objector to vaccine mandates and governmental COVID-19 restrictions, Missourians can expect more action from the attorney general as time moves on.
“This was an egregious overreach,” Schmitt tweeted after the ruling. “We’re fighting back and winning. More to come. #NoVaccineMandates.”
🚨🚨BREAKING: The Missouri led coalition just obtained an injunction HALTING Joe Biden’s CMS Healthcare worker vaccine mandate. This was an egregious overreach. We’re fighting back and winning. More to come. #NoVaccineMandates pic.twitter.com/emQeJvtXl2
— Eric Schmitt (@Eric_Schmitt) November 29, 2021
