Governor Kay Ivey has submitted a formal comment letter to the Office of Management and Budget on opposing the Biden Administration’s Covid-19 vaccine mandate for federal contractors.
“In my view, the contractor mandate … is illegal and unconstitutional,” Ivey states in the letter. “And it imposes onerous burdens—indeed, irreparable harm—on federal contractors and subcontractors and their employees while needlessly jeopardizing the economic health of Alabama and the entire nation.”
The formal comment references Georgia v. Biden, one of the first lawsuits Ivey signed onto opposing the mandate.
The United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia issued a preliminary injunction earlier this month temporarily halting the mandate for federal contractors.
In concordance with injunction, Ivey requests in her letter that the mandate be vacated or changed to “reflect that the mandate is unlawful and unconstitutional.”
The formal letter is the latest in a series of efforts by Ivey and the state to challenge the federal COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
The Legislature also passed a bill in its latest special session requiring employers to accept certain medical and religious exemptions to the vaccine.
“Momentum is on our side in our fight against the Biden vaccine mandates, but that does not mean we should rest on our laurels,” Ivey said. “I will continue pushing back every step of the way, any way we know how. I have encouraged this vaccine since before it was on the shelves, which is more than President Biden or Vice President Harris could say. You can be pro-vaccine, while being anti-mandate.”
This is not the only vaccine mandate lawsuit being played out in the court system currently: a federal appeals court reinstated Friday the vaccine mandate for companies with more than 100 employees after a prior preliminary injunction and the suit is now expected to head to the Supreme Court.
