Florida Sues Biden Over 'Unlawful Vaccine Mandate'
MIAMI (CBSMiami) - Florida has filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration seeking an immediate end to what state officials call the "unlawful requirement that federal government contractors ensure that all employees receive a COVID-19 vaccine."
Attorney General Ashley Moody is demanding the court hold President Biden's executive order unlawful and issue injunctive relief to stop the enforcement of the illegal action.
Moody said Florida companies, public and private, receive millions of dollars in federal contracts annually and will be negatively impacted by the unlawful requirements.
"I have never seen such blatant disregard for the Constitution or the laws governing our country. President Biden does not have the authority to force millions of Americans to receive a shot, nor does he have the ability to punish Florida economically for not abiding by his authoritarian, unlawful and unconstitutional executive order," Moody said.
"I promised to challenge this gross abuse of power and to stand up for hardworking Floridians and that is exactly why I am suing this President and his reckless administration. As Attorney General, I have an obligation to defend the rule of law, Florida's workers and our state against heavy-handed federal overreach."
Governor Ron DeSantis said, "Just months ago Joe Biden was saying that it wouldn't be appropriate or lawful for the federal government to mandate these COVID shots. But now we have somehow gone from 15 days to slow the spread to 3 jabs to keep your job. The federal government is exceeding their power and it is important for us to take a stand because in Florida we believe these are choices based on individual circumstances."
The filing said the unconstitutional nature of the rule by outlining that Congress never provided the president authority to mandate that contractors ensure employees are vaccinated: "Providing the federal government with an economic and efficient system for procurement is not a broad enough delegation to impose nationwide social policy that Congress has not separately authorized. Further, the executive order is divorced from the practical needs of procurement. It will exclude otherwise competitive bidders, cause contractors to suffer labor shortages, and is substantially overbroad in, for example, refusing to account for natural immunity and ignoring the low transmission risk for COVID-19 outdoors."