More than two dozen Republican-led states filed lawsuits Friday in an attempt to stop the administration’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for private employers, as AP reported.

“This mandate is unconstitutional, unlawful and unwise,” Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt wrote in a court filing in the St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on behalf of 11 states.

The administration announced last week that any employer with more than 100 workers must require their workforces to be vaccinated or get tested weekly.

“We are fully prepared to defend this standard in court,” Department of Labor Solicitor Seema Nanda said Friday.

Army photo by Spc. Robert P Wormley III