Georgia federal district court issued a preliminary injunction of President Biden's Vaccine Mandate

This week a Georgia federal district court issued a preliminary injunction to prevent enforcement of President Biden's Executive Order 14042 that requires employees of contractors and subcontractors on covered federal contracts to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. While acknowledging that vaccines are effective and the tragic toll that the COVID-19 pandemic has wrought, the court found that the plaintiffs will likely succeed in their claim that the President exceeded the authorization given to him by Congress when issuing the Executive Order. Accordingly, the court held that the government is enjoined during the pendency of the lawsuit or until further order of the court from enforcing the vaccine mandate on a nationwide basis. Other courts previously enjoined on a nationwide basis enforcement of the vaccine mandate for healthcare workers by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and OSHA’s enforcement of its COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing Emergency Temporary Standard.