Federal judge blocks Biden vaccine mandate as 'arbitrary and capricious'

The Washington Post reports, “A federal judge in Missouri has partially halted another one of the Biden administration’s key vaccine requirements, temporarily blocking the imposition of a rule for certain health-care workers in 10 states.

Federal judge blocks Biden vaccine mandate as “arbitrary and capricious.” Ruling states that “Congress did not clearly authorize [Medicare] to enact this politically and economically vast, federalism-altering, and boundary-pushing mandate…https://t.co/giE84SySS6

— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) November 30, 2021

The Biden administration issued the vaccine mandate, for health-care workers at facilities that received funding from Medicare and Medicaid, in early November through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). It was estimated to apply to some 1.7 million workers at 76,000 facilities across the country, including hospitals and nursing homes.

But in a 32-page ruling issued on Monday in St. Louis, U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, said that a preliminary injunction to halt the rule was warranted because he believed the arguments made by the plaintiffs — 10 mostly Republican-dominated states — that the CMS lacked authority to implement the requirement, probably had merit.”

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