Mississippi joins vaccine mandate lawsuit

Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch, with Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry and Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, have filed a lawsuit to halt President Joe Biden’s vastly overreaching vaccination mandate for federal contractors.

“In an effort to check the box on universal vaccination,” said Attorney General Lynn Fitch, “President Biden has vastly overreached his authority, putting the jobs of one-fifth of the American workforce in jeopardy and violating vital principles, including state sovereignty, the rule of law, and religious liberty. The very fact that his own Administration is contradicting itself in directives carrying out his mandate is strong evidence of its lack of any foundation in fact or law. State Attorneys General asked the President to halt the mandate, and in the absence of any response, we are taking this legal action.”

The lawsuit, filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, asks the court to find the federal contractor vaccine mandate is unlawful and enjoin its implementation. Amongst other claims, the complaint notes that:

• The Administration failed to even try to connect its mandate with any statutory language that might authorize taking the action.
• The mandate violates the Nondelegation Doctrine by taking actions not authorized by Congress.
• The mandate violates the Tenth Amendment by encroaching on States’ traditional police power, again, without any clear Congressional authority to do so.
• The mandate violates the Spending Clause by asking contractors, including many State agencies, to comply with highly ambiguous guidance applying to contractual relationships already in place.
• The Administration failed to follow even the most rudimentary public protections for notice and comment publication in the Federal Register and rulemaking under the Administrative Procedures Act.
• By failing to even attempt to provide a reason or explanation for its conclusory actions, particularly on a matter of such significant economic impact and with overwhelming reliance on interests at stake, the Administration’s actions are arbitrary and capricious.

Read the full complaint here.

In his comments about the lawsuit, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said, “The Biden administration has time and time again shown a total disregard for Americans’ individual liberties. Their previous lie about not forcing vaccine mandates on the American people was just another example of their lengthy track record of not telling the truth. With this lawsuit, Mississippi is stepping up to defend its people against the Biden administration’s relentless attacks on freedom and personal choice.” 

DeSoto County News Service – News Release