Attorneys general in 11 states, including Alaska, filed suit last Friday against President Joe Biden’s administration, challenging a new vaccine requirement for workers at companies with more than 100 employees.
The lawsuit filed in the St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals argues that the authority to compel vaccinations rests with the states, not the federal government.
“This mandate is unconstitutional, unlawful, and unwise,” said the court filing by Missouri Attorney General and political candidate Eric Schmitt, one of several Republicans running for the state’s open U.S. Senate seat next year.
At least 27 states have filed lawsuits challenging the rule in several federal court circuits, some of which were made more conservative by the judicial appointments of then-President Donald Trump.
In one of those cases, a federal appeals court on Saturday temporarily halted the vaccine requirement for businesses.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans granted an emergency stay of the requirement by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration that those workers be vaccinated against COVID-19 or wear face masks and undergo weekly tests for the Coronavirus.
The requirement is to kick in Jan. 4, unless blocked by the courts. Failure to comply could result in employer penalties of nearly $14,000 per violation.
Further proceedings in the New Orleans case were scheduled for Tuesday this week.
Such circuit decisions normally apply only to states within a district — in this case, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas -- but it was unclear on Monday how far the 5th U.S. Circuit Court ruling would apply, if it remains in place.
Last week’s lawsuits against vaccination requirements for employers with more than 100 workers is similar to three other cases filed by Alaska and 17 other states two weeks ago, challenging the Biden administration over the government’s authority to require that employees of federal contractors must be vaccinated against COVID-19 by Dec. 8. On that issue too, Alaska joined a lawsuit filed by Missouri.
The administration has been encouraging widespread vaccinations as the quickest way out of the pandemic. A White House spokeswoman said Nov. 4 that the mandate was intended to halt the spread of a disease that has claimed more than 750,000 lives in the U.S.
Schmitt said Missouri sued “to protect personal freedoms, preserve Missouri businesses, and push back on bureaucratic tyrants who simply want power and control.”
Missouri was joined in the lawsuit by the Republican attorneys general of Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming. The office of Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, a Democrat, also joined in the suit, along with several private, nonprofit and religious employers.
The Daily Wire, a conservative media company, filed a similar challenge in federal court on Nov. 4. So did companies in Michigan and Ohio represented by a conservative advocacy law firm, as well as two Wisconsin manufacturers represented by a conservative law firm.
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