President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate was blocked again on Tuesday by a federal judge in Georgia.
The ruling was issued Tuesday afternoon by U.S. District Judge Stan Baker. This is the third federal court decision blocking Biden’s mandate from taking effect.
The Biden administration has been aiming to require vaccinations for all federal employees and employees of federal contractors, so the ruling comes as a victory for the Republican effort to stop the requirement.
South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson tweeted “Abuse of power by the Biden administration has been stopped cold again. This marks the third time federal judges have blocked these mandates from enforcement”.
The lawsuit against Biden’s mandate involved the states of Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Alabama, South Carolina, Utah and West Virginia.
A partial stay of the mandate was issued on Nov. 29 by U.S. District Judge Matthew Schelp of Missouri. Schelp had issued a temporary injunction on enforcement of the mandate that affected 10 states.
On Nov. 30, the injunction was expanded by U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty of Louisiana. Those decisions affected the federal Centers for Medicare and Medical Services, which wanted to require over 10.3 million healthcare workers to get vaccinated.
Biden’s effort to force businesses with more than 100 employees to require vaccines was also blocked.
The court document issue by the U.S District Court for The Western District of Louisiana read “In addressing the geographic scope of the preliminary injunction, due to the nationwide scope of the CMS Mandate, a nationwide injunction is necessary due to the need for uniformity”.
During a press briefing Tuesday, Jen Psaki said “we are confident in our ability legally to make these [mandates] happen across the country” when asked about the judge’s decision.