Missouri judge blocks vaccine mandate for federal contractors in 10 States

A federal judge in Missouri has temporarily blocked the Biden administration’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal contractors in 10 U.S. states – adding to the list of judicial blows the White House has recently suffered.

“We just beat the Biden Administration in court again,” Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt tweeted on Monday. “This afternoon, we obtained a preliminary injunction against the vaccine mandate on federal contractors, halting enforcement of that mandate in Missouri and the other states in our coalition.”

U.S. Magistrate Judge David Noce issued the preliminary injunction which applies to Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming, the Epoch Times reported.

Schmitt and Doug Peterson, Nebraska’s Attorney General, initially led the 10 states in suing the Biden administration on Oct. 29, calling the mandate “unconstitutional, unlawful and unwise.”

“It will not harm the federal government to maintain the status quo while the courts decide the issues of the President’s authority and the implications for federalism. The Court concludes that, on balance, consideration of the harms and the public interest weigh in favor of a preliminary injunction,” reads the Monday preliminary injunction order from U.S. Magistrate Judge David Noce.

But Noce’s ruling comes after a wave of judicial decisions that have challenged the Biden administration’s vaccine mandates and their legality.

Earlier this month, a federal judge in Georgia blocked the Biden administration’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal contractors across the country.

U.S. District Judge R. Stan Baker, an appointee of former President Trump, acknowledged the impact COVID-19 has had on Americans across the country, but cited executive overreach and a lack of congressional approval as reasons for his ruling.

“The Court acknowledges the tragic toll that the COVID-19 pandemic has wrought throughout the nation and the globe,” Baker wrote in a 28-page ruling. “However, even in times of crisis this Court must preserve the rule of law and ensure that all branches of government act within the bounds of their constitutionally granted authorities.”

"While the Procurement Act explicitly and unquestionably bestows some authority upon the President, the Court is unconvinced, at this state of the litigation, that it authorized him to direct the type of actions by agencies that are contained in EO 14042,” he added.

Last month, U.S. District Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove for the Eastern District of Kentucky issued a less far-reaching injunction that blocked the federal contractor mandate in Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee.

So far, all vaccine mandates for private business, healthcare workers and federal contractors have been blocked by the courts.