US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly on Thursday sided with 20 plaintiffs who sued the Biden Administration over its vaccine mandate for federal employees. Both civilian and active duty military plaintiffs “whose religious exception requests have been denied will not be disciplined or separated during the pendency of their appeals,” said the judge.
Though temporary, Kollar-Kotelly’s ruling prevents the administration from firing federal employees who refuse to get vaccinated against COVID for religious reasons.
Her ruling, which comes as more and more people are fired over vaccine mandates, represents an “amazing development from the DC District Court in the stand for OUR RIGHTS against the unconstitutional vaccine mandates,” tweeted lawyer Jenna Ellis.
United Airlines fired up to 593 employees for refusing to get vaccinated before a US District Judge blocked the company’s efforts to ignore requests for exemption. In Utica, NY, a federal judge blocked the state from forcing medical workers to get vaccinated after several workers sued over a mandate that does not allow religious exemptions.
At the federal level, President Biden is trying to pass legislation requiring all businesses with 100 or more employees to enforce vaccine mandates.
“The Biden Administration has shown an unprecedented, cavalier attitude toward the rule of law and an utter ineptitude at basic constitutional contours,” argues Michael Yoder, the plaintiffs’ attorney in the lawsuit mentioned above. “With this order, we are one step closer to putting the Biden Administration back in its place by limiting government to its enumerated powers. It’s time citizens and courts said no to tyranny.”
Republican governors have also taken steps to block the Biden Administration’s unconstitutional vaccine mandates.
Earlier this month, Texas Governor Greg Abbott blocked private companies from mandating vaccines. This Wednesday, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem (R) issued an executive order allowing state employees to claim religious or medical exemptions to the Biden Administration’s September 9th vaccine mandate for federal employees.
Last week, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) offered unvaccinated police $5,000 to relocate to Florida and promised to ban vaccine mandates from affecting schools, businesses, and government agencies. On Thursday, he sued President Biden and NASA over vaccine mandates that he says “threaten” the states economy.
As noted in my previous article (click here to read), Florida’s economy has bounced back quickly thanks to its lax rules on vaccines and masks.
Sources:
Judge Temporarily Stope Biden Administration From Firing Unvaccinated Workers
Firing Unvaccinated Workers Becomes More Common