States Garner Success with Temporary Halt on New Vaccine Mandate

Outrage has turned into brief relief as a federal appeals court has sanctioned the new vaccine mandate from the Biden administration as having “grave statutory and constitutional issues” and is temporarily on hold.

The news came Saturday morning that a three-judge panel determined the new vaccine mandate that requires companies with 100 employees or more to have all employees fully vaccinated or tested weekly will be “stayed” until further consideration from the court has occurred.

The ruling also stated that the Biden administration has until 5 p.m. Monday to respond.

Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton, who filed the petition to the Fifth Court, was overjoyed to hear of the ruling but says, “The fight is not over and I will never stop resisting this Admin’s unconstitutional overreach!” The petition also included the states of Mississippi, Utah, South Carolina, Texas and Louisiana.

Besides states, several faith-based organizations joined in the opposition of the mandate, such as Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and Asbury Theological Seminary, along with other religious and secular companies. The two seminaries filed a petition with the Sixth Circuit against the mandate.

The mandate order from the Biden administration, which is in conjunction with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OHSA), was revealed this week that companies had until Jan. 4 to get all their employees vaccinated or willing to be tested each week (which the employee would have to pay for) and to work while wearing a mask. Companies that don’t agree to these standards may have to pay a $14,000 fine for each offense, that could increase if there are repeated offenses. Some have said those fines could even be as high as $70,000 for each offense.

The stance is that the federal government and OSHA don’t have the authority to demand company employees get vaccinated and that this should be a sign to Christians and the nation that it is time to take a stand. {eoa}