On Tuesday, the Biden Administration’s efforts to force vaccines on Americans faced another major setback in court, with a district court judge blocking the nationwide vaccine mandate for federal contractors, Politico reports.
The ruling was made by U.S. District Court Judge R. Stan Baker, in Georgia, who issued a stay that forbids the government from enforcing the mandate anywhere in the country. The ruling came as a result of a lawsuit filed by several contractors who would have been affected by the mandate, including Associated Builders and Contractors Inc., as well as seven states: Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, South Carolina, Utah and West Virginia.
Baker ultimately found that the mandate was unconstitutional because Biden did not first seek approval from Congress, thus violating the separation of powers between the three branches of government.
“The Court acknowledges the tragic toll that the Covid-19 pandemic has wrought throughout the nation and the globe,” the judge wrote in his opinion. “However, even in times of crisis this Court must preserve the rule of law and ensure that all branches of government act within the bounds of their constitutionally granted authorities.”
In response to the ruling, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki defended the policy, claiming that “the reason that we proposed these requirements is that we know they work,” without citing any proof. “We are confident in our ability, legally, to make these happen across the country.”
With Baker’s ruling, all three of Biden’s vaccine mandates are currently blocked in federal court: A judge ruled that Biden’s vaccine mandate for healthcare workers was unconstitutional back in November, and the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled earlier that same month that Biden’s mandate for all private businesses with more than 100 employees could not be enforced, due to “grave statutory and constitutional issues with the mandate.”