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CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson filed a lawsuit on Monday in federal court to block the mandate requiring healthcare workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
The lawsuit asks the Court to hold that the vaccine mandate is unlawful and vacate it, while blocking the Biden Administration from implementing it.
According to the attorney general’s office, several states have joined Wilson including Louisiana, Montana, Arizona, Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Utah, and West Virginia.
“The Biden Administration has struck once again, attempting to coerce our healthcare workers into being vaccinated. The Federal Government seeks to bully the sovereign State of South Carolina into submission with the promise of federal funds,” Wilson said. “Our healthcare workers are heroes to all of us and should be able to do their jobs without the Biden Administration’s threats and abuse of power. The rule of law and Constitution will prevail and federal power stopped dead in its tracks.”
Wilson said the suit points out numerous legal problems with the mandate which includes it exceeding the authority of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and violates the Social Security’s Act prohibition on regulations that control the selection and tenure of healthcare workers.
“In addition, it also violates the Administrative Procedures Act’s notice-and-comment requirement, the Congressional Review Act’s publication-and-review requirements, and the Social Security Act’s consultation and regulatory-impact-analysis requirements,” Wilson said. “Ironically, instead of promoting public health, this mandate endangers the vulnerable people who are supposed to be protected by Medicare and Medicaid—the poor, sick, and elderly—by forcing termination of millions of healthcare workers who are essential to providing healthcare services.”
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