Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody (R) is seeking an injunction against the federal government and President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate. The mandate would require federal contract workers to be vaccinated against COVID. Moody’s lawyers filed a motion for an injunction in federal court in Tampa.
The state of Florida, led by Gov. Ron DeSantis and Moody, have said Biden and his administration overstepped its constitutional authority.
“Defendants (Biden and other federal defendants) are already pressuring Florida to modify existing contracts, and Florida understands that failing to do so will exclude Florida from consideration for future opportunities,” the motion said. “As a matter of Florida law, however, state entities may not require vaccination of state employees. The challenged actions, therefore, require Florida to choose between changing or violating state law on the one hand or losing tens of millions of dollars in federal funds on the other.”
The rivalry between DeSantis and Biden grew over the last few months, particularly regarding COVID policies. Biden told governors like DeSantis and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R), that if they did not go along with the federal government’s recommended COVID mandates he would use his executive power to override their state authority.
“If they’ll not help, if these governors won’t help us beat the pandemic, I’ll use my power as president to get them out of the way,” Biden said. His comments came as DeSantis was fighting with rogue school districts who refused to comply with Florida’s vaccine mandate ban.
DeSantis famously said he would “stand in the way” of Biden if he attempted to order Floridians around.
“And Joe Biden suggests that if you don’t do lockdown policies, then you should quote, ‘get out of the way.’ But let me tell you this, if you’re coming after the rights of parents in Florida, I’m standing in your way, I’m not going to let you get away with it. If you’re trying to deny kids a proper in person education, I’m gonna stand in your way and I’m gonna stand up for the kids in Florida. If you’re trying to restrict people, impose mandates, if you’re trying to ruin their jobs and their livelihoods and their small business, if you are trying to lock people down, I am standing in your way and I’m standing for the people of Florida.”
DeSantis has also called for a special session to permanently codify vaccine mandate bans and mask mandate bans, which has been highly criticized by notable Florida Democrats.
The lawsuit was assigned to U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday who previously sided with Florida over its vaccine passport ban after it was challenged by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The state is also making the case that the vaccine mandate will cause tremendous harm to Florida’s economic standing.
“Because less than two-thirds of Floridians are fully vaccinated, federal contractors in Florida will soon begin losing a substantial portion of their workforce as a direct result of the president’s executive order,” the motion said. “And this loss will cause Florida economic harm in the form of reduced corporate income tax revenues.”
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Grant Holcomb is a reporter at the Florida Capital Star and the Star News Network. Follow Grant on Twitter and direct message tips.
