Appeals Court Declines to Lift Vaccine Mandate Ban for Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee

Demonstrators gather to protest a mandatory flu vaccine order for children and to protest
JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images

A federal appeals court on Thursday kept a ban on the Biden administration’s coronavirus vaccine mandate for federal contractor employees in Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee.

ABC10 reports:

A judge in Louisville, Kentucky, issued the preliminary injunction in November that blocked the mandate for that state and two others — Tennessee and Ohio. A panel of the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals upheld the injunction in a 2-1 ruling on Wednesday. […] The lawsuit from the states claims the vaccination requirement is unlawful and unconstitutional. The mandate requiring employees of federal contractors to get vaccinated against COVID-19 had been set to take effect this week.

“This ensures, while the case continues to proceed, that federal contractors in Kentucky aren’t subject to the Biden Administration’s unlawful mandate,” Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron (R) said in a statement.

The development comes on the heels of a scheduled Supreme Court special session regarding a pair of legal challenges to two of Biden’s vaccine mandates for large businesses and healthcare workers.

The White House has expressed confidence in the mandates, with spokesperson Jen Psaki saying that the Department of Justice is prepared to “vigorously defend both at the Supreme Court”.

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