Submitted
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita says he will “continue defending personal freedoms” as the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments Friday on two of President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
Rokita
“In a free republic, the protection of individual liberty must be a priority,” Rokita said. “The federal government’s overreach through vaccine mandates threatens our country’s foundation. Truly, Hoosiers’ liberty hangs in the balance as the Supreme Court deliberates over these important constitutional issues.”
The Supreme Court on Friday heard oral arguments over two separate vaccine mandates. One of those is an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) rule requiring vaccination or weekly testing of workers at large employers. Rokita’s lawsuit challenging this OSHA vaccine mandate was consolidated with other similar suits and is part of what was heard at the Supreme Court. The other vaccine mandate heard was a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) rule requiring vaccination of all staff at all Medicare and Medicaid providers. Rokita filed suit to stop what he calls government overreach.
Rokita has filed four separate lawsuits against the Biden administration over what he calls its “draconian” vaccine mandates. In addition to lawsuits over the OSHA and CMS mandates, he also has filed lawsuits over 1) a vaccine mandate for federal contractors and 2) a mandate requiring masks for children as young as 2 years old and vaccines for staff and volunteers at childcare programs receiving Head Start funds.
According to Rokita, all these lawsuits have borne what he says are positive results.
A federal appeals court initially prevented the OSHA mandate from going into effect. “Although another federal appeals court subsequently lifted that ruling, the Supreme Court now has the opportunity to chart the correct course,” Rokita said.
In Indiana, the federal vaccine mandates for Medicare/Medicaid providers and Head Start facilities are not in effect due to the lawsuits filed by Rokita and likeminded attorneys general in other states. Indiana has also secured an injunction against the federal contractor mandate, but the court limited that injunction to the State of Indiana’s contracts.
“Hoosiers can rest assured we will keep working to protect their constitutional freedoms,” Rokita said. “This fight against gross federal overreach is one we absolutely must win, and we will not rest until we prevail on behalf of liberty.”