Attorney General Steve Marshall (R-AL) on Friday filed a legal challenge to block President Joe Biden’s vaccine edict for private employers.
Marshall filed the petition for review in the 11th Circuit immediately upon the Biden administration officially publishing vaccination rules for businesses covered under his decree.
According to the president’s mandate, private companies employing more than 100 workers must force vaccination upon its employees or subject them to weekly virus testing and mask-wearing beginning January 4, 2022.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) emergency rule is estimated to impact over 80 million American workers. Employers could face severe financial penalties if they are found to be noncompliant with the edict.
“Today, I’ve challenged the Biden Administration’s latest attempt to wreck our nation’s economy while satiating the left’s infatuation with government-mandated immunization,” advised Marshall.
In announcing the legal challenge, Marshall asserted that the president’s private employer mandate was “utterly flawed” and “illegitimate.”
“Not only is this mandate based on a faulty public health premise—that workplace immunization will stop the spread of COVID—but it is based on an utterly flawed legal premise as well,” the attorney general proclaimed. “When you consider the number of employees impacted by both the federal-contractor and private-employer mandate, Biden has effectively issued a nationwide vaccine mandate. As I have said before, this effort is illegitimate and legally unserious. Based on recent U.S. Supreme Court precedent, I am confident the Eleventh Circuit will agree.”
Marshall took note of the labor crisis, which has metastasized across the nation, indicating that Biden’s decree would further exacerbate the dilemma.
“Our nation is in the midst of a labor crisis,” Marshall stated. “We can see and feel that here in Alabama. Instead of promoting policies that would encourage individuals to re-enter the work force, this Administration has done nothing but deter them. Vaccine mandates don’t guarantee protection from COVID—they guarantee a labor shortage.”
Marshall joined attorneys general from Florida and Georgia in challenging the OSHA rule. Clarke County-based Scotch Plywood Company joined the challenge as a plaintiff.
The attorney general’s challenge to Biden’s private employer mandate comes on the heels of the lawsuit he filed last week combating the president’s federal contractor mandate.
Dylan Smith is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @DylanSmithAL
Don’t miss out! Subscribe today to have Alabama’s leading headlines delivered to your inbox.