Palmetto State News

South Carolina has joined a federal lawsuit against the President Joe Biden administration's sweeping COVID-19 vaccine requirement for state workers, deeming the mandate illegal and coming with negative circumstances for the economy.

“South Carolinians should not be unlawfully forced to choose between their job and the vaccine,” Gov. Henry McMaster tweeted Oct. 29. “It’s unfortunate that we must sue POTUS, but he has violated the constitution and has placed Palmetto State jobs at risk.”

The requirements apply to both state and local government workers, including public school teachers and staff in more than half the state across the country, the Greenville News reported.

The lawsuit is led by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Attorney General Chris Carr, with South Carolina, Alabama, Idaho, Kansas, West Virginia and Utah also serving as plaintiffs on the grounds the requirement is illegal and on the strength the mandate “will hamstring the economy,” according to the Greenville News.

South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson has also openly argued in a statement that the U.S. Constitution has nothing that authorizes the federal agencies to implement the "contractor mandate," adding, “that’s a police power left to the States under the Tenth Amendment. This is not about whether vaccines are a good idea,” but the way the Biden administration went about this is unconstitutional and I’m sworn to uphold the Constitution. No one designated President Biden as King Joseph the First.”

According to Kemp, recent polling shows that 70% of unvaccinated Americans would quit their jobs if companies required the COVID-19 vaccine.

"From an employer's perspective, 9 in 10 fear significant reductions in their workforce if they had to implement vaccine mandates," he added in a statement.