Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit Friday against the Biden administration, seeking a declaration that the administration’s mandate that all federal contractor employees get vaccinated against COVID-19 by December 8^th is unconstitutional.

President Biden and the three co-chairs of the Safer Federal Workplace Task Force are among the defendants. The task force provides guidance for federal employees’ safety during the COVID-19 pandemic. On September 9^th, President Biden issued a pair of executive orders requiring that all executive branch federal employees and federal contracts be vaccinated. On September 24^th, the task force also issued a directive stating that December 8^th was the deadline for “covered contractor employees” to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Moreover, all federal contracts must include the clause beginning on November 14.

The lawsuit argues that the mandate is an illegal overreach. “Defendants effectively claim for themselves a general police power to control American life, infringing on states’ sovereignty and usurping the powers reserved to the states under the Constitution,” the complaint states.

The lawsuit explains that the mandate is too broad because it applies to federal contractor employees who have previously been infected with COVID-19, those who work outdoors, those who work remotely full-time, and those whose job duties are unrelated to the covered contracts.

Specifically addressing natural immunity, the lawsuit argued that natural immunity should be an alternative to vaccination, arguing that “natural immunity confers superior resistance to COVID-19 than any of the currently available vaccines, and one in three Americans had COVID by the end of 2020.”

The lawsuit also stated that the mandate would exacerbate worker shortages and potentially result in Texas losing out on billions of dollars in federal contracts.

In addition to the Texas lawsuit, a joint lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District Of Missouri by ten states, Arkansas, Alaska, Missouri, Iowa, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. Florida also filed a separate suit on the same issue on Thursday.