“A federal judge in Georgia has blocked the Biden Administration from enforcing its vaccine mandate for federal contractors across the country, siding with several state attorneys general and contractors who said the mandate created an unfair economic burden.
Tuesday’s ruling, by Judge Stan Baker in Georgia’s southern district, determined that President Biden never had authority under federal procurement law to issue the executive order that established the mandate in the first place. The government had argued it was necessary to promote ‘economy and efficiency’ under the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act…”
“Although the initial lawsuit was filed by state elected officials in Georgia and six other states, the judge also allowed a construction trade association, the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC), to join the lawsuit as an intervenor. And Judge Baker found that since ABC has members throughout the country, the only way to address what he called an ‘extreme economic burden’ was through a nationwide injunction…”
“Like in the Kentucky case, Tuesday’s ruling found the president has wide discretion to order unilateral changes to federal procurement policy, but only if the new policy has a ‘sufficiently close nexus’ to economy and efficiency in federal contracting. But also like in the Kentucky case, the Georgia court found public health mandates don’t meet that test.
‘While the court is aware of cases where courts have held that a variety of types of executive orders were authorized under the Procurement Act, none have involved measures aimed at public health and none have involved the level of burdens implicated by Executive Order 14042,’ Judge Baker wrote. ‘[The order] has already required and will continue to require extensive and costly administrative work by employers and will force at least some individuals to choose between getting medical treatment that they do not want or losing their job (and facing limited job replacement options due to the mandate).’…” Read the full article here.
Source: Georgia court issues nationwide injunction to block vaccine mandate for federal contractors – By Jared Serbu, December 7, 2021. Federal News Network.
