Sunshine Sentinel

Gov. Ron DeSantis called for a special legislative session to fight President Joe Biden’s recent vaccine mandate.

An Oct. 29 release from Florida House Speaker Chris Sprowls (R-Palm Harbor) and Senate President Wilton Simpson (R-Trilby) calls the nationwide mandate both “illegal” and “unconstitutional,” citing the session as a way to keep freedoms intact.

“During the special session, we will do everything within our power as a state to protect Floridians from the unconstitutional, un-American and morally reprehensible overreaches on the part of the federal government,” the release stated.

A U.S. appeals court recently upheld an emergency stay on the national private business vaccine mandate, removing it from effect until a legal decision is made, Reuters reported.

"The mandate is a one-size-fits-all sledgehammer that makes hardly any attempt to account for differences in workplaces (and workers)," 5th Circuit Court Judge Kurt Engelhardt wrote for the panel. 

"The public interest is also served by maintaining our constitutional structure and maintaining the liberty of individuals to make intensely personal decisions according to their own convictions – even, or perhaps particularly, when those decisions frustrate government officials," Engelhardt wrote.

DeSantis plans to pass legislation that aims at keeping Florida businesses open and prioritizing individuals over government, ccording to Sprowls' release.

A follow-up release sent out gave a name to the effort, calling it "Keep Florida Free." 

Florida has already taken legal action against the federal mandates targeting federal contractors and joined with other states in threatening a lawsuit if the mandate passed, the Sunshine Sentinel reported.