Health Freedom Groups Sue Over Federal Vaccine Mandate

Lawsuit Alleges Glaring Federal Overreach Which Threatens Critical Supply-Chain and Transportation Industries 

TAMPA, FL- (November 23, 2021) Health Freedom Defense Fund and US Freedom Flyers filed suit (Case 8:21-cv-02738) in US District Court against Joseph Biden and the federal government challenging Biden’s desperately overreaching executive order mandating COVID-19 injections for employees of all federal contractors and subcontractors. The suit alleges, among other things, that “the President arrogated to himself general police powers over the lives of millions of people, which are contemplated by neither the Constitution nor any Act of Congress.” 

“This case is the result of a tremendous amount of hard work and the tireless commitment to freedom that our members have shown,” said Josh Yoder, co-founder of US Freedom Flyers. 

On September 9, 2021 President Biden issued Executive Order 14042 commanding all Executive Branch employees and employees of federal contractors be vaccinated, in spite of the fact that he and his administration repeatedly denied any intention of enacting a nationwide vaccination mandate for COVID-19 since 2020. The White House Press Secretary went so far as to state in July 2021: “Can we mandate vaccines across the country? No, that’s not a role that the federal government, I think, even has the power to make.”

Plaintiffs claim the Biden Administration has repeatedly overreached in seeking to use agencies of the federal government to dictate public health policy. By mandating that millions of people be administered a medical intervention, the President gave himself general police powers he does not possess, a clear violation of the law and the Constitution of the United States

Health Freedom Defense Fund president, Leslie Manookian, said “the real driving force behind Biden’s executive order is to compel more of the US population to submit to vaccination - an objective that is beyond the reach of Congress, let alone the Executive Branch. In case some in government have forgotten, we live in a constitutional republic, not a kingdom.”

US Freedom Flyers and Health Freedom Defense Fund v. Biden states in unequivocal terms that instead of the Executive Order’s purported purpose to “decrease worker absence, reduce labor costs, and improve efficiency of [Federal Government] contractors and subcontractors” the mandate will likely have the opposite effect by forcing the termination of thousands of essential workers from critical supply-chain and transportation industries that are already over-stressed. As the country emerges from the COVID-19 crisis, a serious workforce shortage has already wreaked havoc on the airline industry, resulting in hundreds if not thousands of flight cancellations. Empty shelves, a sight once reserved for times of natural disaster, are now a new reality for Americans throughout the nation. Biden’s mandate and resulting guidance from OMB and the FAR Council come at perhaps the worst possible time in our nation’s history, threatening to exacerbate an already-critical situation going into the holiday season.

Further, the lawsuit alleges that as we have been living with COVID-19 for at least 18 months, no “urgent and compelling” circumstances justified issuing an intrusive, government-wide procurement regulation on contractor employee health, let alone without notice and comment. 

Health Freedom Defense Fund (HFDF), a non-profit advocating for medical choice and bodily autonomy, and US Freedom Flyers (USFF), a group of transportation and airline employees and passengers fighting for medical freedoms, stand shoulder to shoulder in defense of the Constitution and the basic human right of medical freedom, and are confident of the outcome of this lawsuit.