Charleston Reporter

Gov. Henry McMaster and state Attorney General Alan Wilson are leading the fight against COVID-19 vaccine mandates across the country, initiating three lawsuits filed in the federal court.

A recent press release from the Governor's Office states the three lawsuits, filed over the past month, challenge Biden Administration mandates that impact South Carolina residents. This includes the Federal Contractor Mandate, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) mandate and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) mandate.

"South Carolina is fully committed to fighting the Biden Administration's overreach by any means necessary," McMaster said in the release. "As I have said before, the federal government forcing South Carolinians to choose between their job and a COVID-19 vaccination is unjust and unlawful, and it must be challenged. I ensure all South Carolinians that we will continue to fight to protect their rights." 

The most recent lawsuit, filed Nov. 15 against the CMS, joined states in challenging the vaccine mandate placed on health care workers. This came after a Nov. 8 letter from McMaster to Wilson on the matter, the release states.

Prior to this, McMaster and Wilson filed a suit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia against the mandate on employees of federal contractors Oct. 29, joining Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Utah and West Virginia, the release states. Those involved recently asked the federal court in Georgia to issue a preliminary injunction, preventing President Joe Biden and his administration from enforcing the vaccine mandate on federal contractors, with a hearing scheduled for Friday. 

According to the release, the third lawsuit, filed Nov. 5 in the U.S. Court of Appeals alongside Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas and Utah challenges OSHA’s emergency temporary standard seeking to require all employers with 100 or more employees to either enforce vaccinations or provide weekly proof of a negative COVID-19 test. The next day, the 5th Circuit issued an order staying the OSHA mandate, stating the Biden Administration’s actions raised “grave statutory and constitutional issues,” the release states.