Gov. Mike Dunleavy joined a phone call with 20 Republican governors on Friday to discuss a lawsuit to be filed in federal court against the Biden Administration over its extreme federal mandate requiring Covid shots for the entire federal workforce and any business with more than 100 employees. Congress and the U.S. Postal
The lawsuit may need to be filed in a state that is not in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, but in one that is more friendly to the U.S. Constitution.
Republican leaders, including GOP Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, expressed horror last week at Biden’s coronavirus vaccine mandates. On Thursday, Biden openly bashed Republicans during his address, in which he announced his immunization orders for all federal employees, federal contractors, health-care workers in facilities that have Medicare or Medicaid clients, as well as all private businesses with more than 100 employees. Business who don’t want to comply with the shots must do mandatory testing for Covid of their unvaccinated employees.
Biden said his patience was wearing thin for people who are unvaccinated against Covid-19.
Dunleavy immediately last week called the president’s order outrageous and unenforceable. Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas called it “a power grab.” South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said he will fight Mr. Biden to “the gates of hell.”
In past pandemics, the Supreme Court has upheld the government’s right to inject medicine into people, but this court is more conservative and the past rulings may be ripe for overturning.
The president’s mandate says that Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration will put in place an “emergency temporary standard” until a permanent standard is in place. OSHA’s website says it has the power to issue standards if “workers are in grave danger” from toxic substances or agents or to new hazards.
The governors are consulting with their legal advisors about the best path forward and which state takes the lead.
