With a major suit filed against a Department of Energy contractor in his backyard, South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson (R) said in a Friday press release he is joining a lawsuit brought by the Georgia governor contending the federal government lacks authority to require government contractors to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
The lawsuit was filed Friday by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Attorney General Chris Carr, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia in the Augusta Division.
Augusta, Ga., is 25 miles away from the DOE’s Savannah River Site. More than 75 vaccine holdouts are already suing Fluor-led operations contractor Savannah River Nuclear Solutions to avoid being terminated by Nov. 30. Plaintiffs in that case must file a response to the prime contractor’s motion to dismiss later this week.
The Georgia lawsuit asks the federal court to declare the federal contractor mandates, included in September executive orders by President Joe Biden, unconstitutional and seeks an injunction to prevent them from going forward. Kemp said in his own Friday press release that polls show 70% of unvaccinated workers will quit their jobs rather than take the shots. Idaho, home to DOE’s Idaho National Laboratory, is listed as among the other states backing the Georgia suit.
Wilson said the U.S. Constitution’s 10th Amendment says powers not delegated to the United States are reserved for the states or the people. The South Carolina AG said neither Article 2 of the Constitution, which sets out the presidential powers, nor Congress authorizes federal agencies of the executive branch to implement the contractor mandate.
“This is not about whether vaccines are a good idea,” Wilson said, adding he is fully inoculated against COVID-19. “But the way the Biden administration went about this is unconstitutional and I’m sworn to uphold the Constitution,” Wilson added.
