Biden’s Covid Shot-or-Test Rule Faces Incoming Wave of Suits (2)

Arizona, Florida, and Missouri have vowed to sue the Biden administration Friday to block an emergency rule mandating workplace Covid-19 vaccination or testing, with more lawsuits expected from Republican-led states and industry groups.

Attorneys general in those three states said they’ll file lawsuits early Friday, when the rule is officially published and will take effect. Ohio and Indiana’s attorneys general also have pledged to challenge the regulation in court. Alabama and Georgia are expected to join Florida’s suit.

“We will be on file first thing tomorrow morning to halt this illegal, unconstitutional attempt by the Biden Administration and the federal government to impose their will on thousands of Missouri businesses and millions of Missourians,” Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt said in a statement.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued its emergency rule Thursday. The measure requires employers with at least 100 workers to mandate vaccinations or regular testing.

Conservative organizations filed challenges to the rule in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit against the regulation Thursday, but it’s unclear if they jumped the gun by suing before the rule was officially published. The Buckeye Institute, an advocacy group, said it filed a petition for review on behalf of two companies, while The Daily Wire, a news website, said it filed another.

Other early filers include the Job Creators Network in the Eighth Circuit and the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty on behalf of businesses in the Seventh Circuit.

Some of these challengers have filed motions to immediately halt enforcement of the rule.

Republican-led states already have sued the Biden administration over its rules requiring federal contractors to get inoculated against Covid-19. Arizona, Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, a coalition of states led by Missouri, a group headed by Kentucky, and a bunch led by Georgia have filed seven separate lawsuits.

_{VIDEO: President Biden’s vaccine mandate rule for companies, the likely legal challenges and what to expect next.}