Arkansas Joins Second Lawsuit Against Biden Administration’s Vaccine Mandates

On Wednesday Arkansas’ Attorney General’s office joined a coalition of states in a second lawsuit challenging the Biden Administration’s federal vaccine mandates.

The lawsuit was filed against the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in federal court in Missouri.

Besides Arkansas, plaintiffs in the lawsuit include attorneys general from Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Wyoming, Alaska, South Dakota, North Dakota, and New Hampshire.

This latest lawsuit is in addition to one that Arkansas joined last week in the Eighth Circuit against the U.S. Department of Labor.

The lawsuit is directed at the federal government’s COVID vaccine mandate for healthcare workers. The mandate requires employees at healthcare facilities that receive Medicaid or Medicare funding to be vaccinated.

The lawsuit argues that the Biden Administration’s vaccine mandate for healthcare workers is unlawful and “threatens to exacerbate an alarming shortage of healthcare workers, particularly in rural communities.”

It also notes that the Biden’s Administration mandate would conflict with Arkansas’ state laws concerning immunizations — including a new law recently passed at the state legislature’s extended session.

You can read the legal challenge against the Biden Administration’s vaccine mandate here.

Arkansas Joins Coalition of States Opposing Biden Administration’s Vaccine Mandate

Last Friday Arkansas’ Attorney General’s office joined a coalition of states led by Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt challenging the Biden Administration’s vaccine mandate for private employers.

Last week the Labor Department issued an emergency rule requiring employers with 100 or more workers to get the COVID-19 vaccine or get tested for the disease each week. According to the Daily Signal, the Biden Administration intends to enforce the rule through OSHA.

Missouri and ten other states — including Arkansas — responded by filing a lawsuit in federal court calling the Biden Administration’s vaccine mandate “unconstitutional, unlawful, and unwise.”

Besides Arkansas and Missouri, other states joining the lawsuit include Arizona, Nebraska, Montana, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Alaska, New Hampshire, and Wyoming.

Attorneys representing the Home School Legal Defense Association and the Christian Employers Alliance joined the lawsuit as well.