Rokita files lawsuit to stop vaccine mandate for Indiana healthcare workers

On Monday, Attorney General Todd Rokita filed a third lawsuit aimed at stopping President Joe Biden’s unlawful COVID-19 vaccine mandates — this one against a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) rule requiring vaccination of all health care workers at facilities participating in Medicare or Medicaid.

“No pandemic gives President Biden the authority to ignore the Constitution and the rule of law,” Attorney General Rokita said. “And my office will use every means at our disposal to protect Hoosiers’ liberties from this president’s gross executive overreach.”

Attorney General Rokita filed the most recent lawsuit in partnership with the attorneys general of Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah and West Virginia.

On a practical level, this particular vaccine mandate causes grave danger to the vulnerable persons whom Medicare and Medicaid were designed to protect — the poor, sick and elderly — by forcing the termination of heroic caregivers who are essential to providing health care services.

Earlier this month, Attorney General Rokita filed legal actions aimed at stopping two other mandates.

In the first lawsuit — filed Nov. 4 by Indiana, Louisiana and Mississippi — Attorney General Rokita challenged a rule requiring vaccination for everyone working for federal contractors, including some state entities. On Nov. 12, Indiana and the other states in that case asked the court to enjoin the contractor mandate immediately, while the lawsuit is pending.

In the second lawsuit, Attorney General Rokita on Nov. 5 challenged an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) rule forcing all employers with 100 or more workers to require all employees to be vaccinated (or produce weekly negative COVID-19 tests). As in the contractor mandate case, Attorney General Rokita asked the court to act immediately to prevent enforcement of the OSHA rule.

In the case of the OSHA rule, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has already ruled against this mandate as “fatally flawed” in response to a lawsuit brought by other states. Multiple OSHA lawsuits will be consolidated into a single circuit via a lottery selection scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 16.

“We’re already seeing the positive results of likeminded attorneys general taking a strong stand for citizens’ rights,” Attorney General Rokita said. “Here in Indiana, we will remain relentless in our fight against these intrusive edicts by a socialist-leaning president.”

As with the first two lawsuits, in this new lawsuit regarding the Medicaid/Medicare rule, Indiana and the other plaintiff states are asking the court to act immediately to prevent enforcement of the vaccine mandate.