JACKSON, Miss. – Mississippi Republican Gov. Tate Reeves said Friday that President Joe Biden’s new federal vaccine requirements are “clearly unconstitutional” and that he believes Biden issued the mandate to distract Americans from the fallout over his decision to withdraw American troops from Afghanistan.

“This is the same bait and switch,” Reeves said at a press conference outside the Governor’s Mansion in Jackson. Biden “wants us to talk about anything but Afghanistan, and sadly, he’s willing to trample on the rights of 100 million Americans to try to help himself politically. That, to me, is disgusting.”

Reeves said a member of the executive branch of government does not have the authority to mandate workers be vaccinated. “It’s clearly unconstitutional for the president, to unilaterally with one signature, decide something of this magnitude,” he said.

He said he expects the Supreme Court to strike down the requirement and that Mississippi will join other states in filing a lawsuit.

“In essence, what the president saying is… hard-working Americans — many of whom work here and live here in Mississippi — hard-working Mississippians have to choose between either injecting themselves with something and potentially having the ability to earn a living to produce food for their family,” he said. “That’s a ridiculous choice.”