Nashville- Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III today filed a lawsuit, joined by the attorneys general of Ohio and Kentucky, challenging the Biden Administration’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal contractors.  The lawsuit, filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, asserts that the Administration’s mandatory vaccination requirement is unlawful and unconstitutional.

“Unless we intervene, federal contractors in Tennessee will be forced to make sense of the mandate’s many inconsistencies that require their entire workforce be vaccinated or face potential blacklisting and loss of future federal contracts,” said General Slatery. “That is simply unworkable and this lawsuit seeks to stop it.”

In the lawsuit, the attorneys general outline the harm the mandate will cause for their respective states and citizens.

Nationwide, the Department of Labor reports that federal contractors account for approximately one-fifth of the country’s entire labor force. The coalition of attorneys general argue that the potential workforce loss among federal contractors presents a significant concern for the economies of their states and could exacerbate ongoing supply chain issues.

The attorneys general further argue that the Biden Administration’s vaccine mandate violates state sovereignty by preventing the states from exercising their police power to establish laws regarding workforce vaccination policies.

The attorneys general also contend that the mandate is unconstitutional because Congress did not give the President authority to issue such a broad mandate.  The coalition writes that “the imposed mandates are unconstitutional because Congress did not articulate a clear principle by legislative act that directs the Executive to take sweeping action that infringes on state and individual rights.” 

To read the complaint, click here: https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/attorneygeneral/documents/pr/2021/pr21-42-complaint.pdf

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#21-42:  AG Slatery Files Lawsuit Challenging Vaccine Mandate for Federal Contractors