INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita announced on Monday that he has filed a third lawsuit in opposition of President Joe Biden's federal COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
The latest suit is aimed against a Centers of Medicare and Medicaid rule requiring vaccination of all health care workers at facilities participating in Medicare or Medicaid. Unlike the federal government rules introduced for Americans who work at companies with 100 or more employees, there is no weekly testing option for these workers.
"No pandemic gives President Biden the authority to ignore the Constitution and the rule of law,” Rokita said in a statement. “And my office will use every means at our disposal to protect Hoosiers’ liberties from this president’s gross executive overreach."
The lawsuit was filed in partnership with the attorneys general of Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah and West Virginia.
Rokita announced earlier this month legal actions against two other mandates, one requiring vaccination for everyone working for federal contractors, and the other requiring vaccinations or weekly testing for employees at businesses of 100 or more workers.
Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb announced his opposition to the federal COVID-19 vaccine mandate earlier this month.
U.S. senators from Indiana, Mike Braun and Todd Young, have joined a group of dozens of senators using the Congressional Review Act to challenge the mandate.
Top Indiana Democrats have also weighed in on the mandates and previous lawsuits against it, saying it's the responsibility of state and federal leaders to help Hoosiers put the pandemic behind us and arguing Indiana needs more people to get vaccinated moving forward.