24 Republican attorneys general sent a signed letter to Joe Biden on Thursday threatening to sue the executive branch if it carries out the Covid-19 vaccine mandate via the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) act.
The group argued that enforcement of such an unprecedented mandate via OSHA for private businesses, federal employees, and healthcare workers is not only illegal, but that the plan is “disastrous,” “counterproductive,” and “harmful.”
According to the attorneys general, the Biden administration’s edict will increase skepticism of vaccines regarding their efficiency, as well as further strain the labor market due to those that would rather quit their jobs instead of being forced to get vaccinated.
“We thus urge you to reconsider your unlawful and harmful plan and allow people to make their own decisions. If your Administration does not alter its course, the undersigned state Attorneys General will seek every available legal option to hold you accountable and uphold the rule of law,” the letter stated.
The chief legal officers noted those affected the most will be healthcare workers, which would represent a “threat to individual liberty,” as well as a “public health disaster that will displace vulnerable workers and exacerbate a nationwide hospital staffing crisis with severe consequences for all Americans.”
The letter referenced a recent poll conducted by Post-ABC that shows 7 in 10, or 42 percent of those polled, would quit their jobs if faced with a vaccine mandate, 35 percent would ask for an exemption, and only 16 percent would actually get vaccinated.
The AGs indicated that the mandate fails to recognize natural immunity among those that have already been infected, therefore acquired natural antibodies. The CDC estimates around 120 million Americans have been infected by May 2021 with coronavirus since the onset of the pandemic.
While explaining why reliance on OSHA is unlawful, the AGs argued that OSHA is too ambiguous to justify a COVID-19 vaccination mandate since many people are already either vaccinated or recovered with natural immunity, thus posing minimal assertion of “grave danger”. Additionally, the letter shows that occupational safety refers to hazards or “substances” developed at the job itself, not dangers naturally occurring within general society.
The way an emergency temporary standard is justified is if OSHA successfully determines that employees are exposed to “grave danger” from exposure to “substances or agents determined to be toxic or physically harmful or from new hazards,” assuring that “such emergency standard is necessary to protect employees from such danger.”
The letter was concluded to reiterate that “millions” of Americans would be affected by this mandate, “threatened with losing their jobs and benefits.” The AGs also said that Biden is “clearly acting beyond the scope of the statute,” and that he will “fail in court.”
The AGs that signed this letter stem from the following states: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
Attorney General Alan Wilson of South Carolina led the effort on the joint letter.
Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich became the first to file a lawsuit against the Biden Administration in response to the aforementioned vaccine mandate. “The federal government cannot force people to get the COVID-19 vaccine. The Biden Administration is once again flouting our laws and precedents to push their radical agenda,” said Attorney General Mark Brnovich in a written statement.