Birmingham-Southern College’s decision to charge unvaccinated students a $500 fee “to offset continual weekly antigen testing and quarantining” was seen by some as a violation of Alabama’s vaccine passport prohibition passed by the Alabama Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Kay Ivey earlier this year.

The move by Birmingham-Southern has drawn the attention of State Sen. Arthur Orr (R-Decatur), the architect of the vaccine passport law, and Attorney General Steve Marshall, the state’s chief law enforcement official.

Orr’s colleague State Sen. Chris Elliott (R-Daphne) says there is a “shameful” trend related to the Birmingham-Southern vaccine passport issue.

During an appearance on Mobile radio FM Talk 106.5’s “The Jeff Poor Show,” Elliott noted how President Joe Biden was also dismissive of the rule of law with his eviction moratorium extension and likened it to the Birmingham-Southern situation.

“You see people flaunting the rule of law, everywhere from the president and his discussion about evictions and moratoriums, and we don’t think this is going to be legal, but it will buy us some time, then we’ll fight about it in a couple of months,” he said. “That is a disrespect for the rule of law. And you are seeing here, I think — again, the law has been passed. The Attorney General has given the guidance on it. And the attitude is, make me. That is, in my opinion, a very poor way to govern and make decisions. If the legislature is forced to exact penalties — you mentioned the Monument Preservation [Act] — every time that are so severe that no one would even want to be able to question, then you’re going to have some really bad repercussions and outcomes on the other end as well.”

Elliott continued, “I just think it’s pretty shameful when you have leaders, elected officials from the president on down that are sometimes making decisions to say, ‘Yes, I think this is illegal. Yes, I think this is against not only the spirit but the wording of the statute. Yes, I think this is against the Attorney General’s interpretation of the statute, and I’m going to do it anyway because the penalty is just not severe enough.’ That is a road most folks don’t want to go down, and I would suggest folks take a much different take on that when you’re making decisions.”

@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University and the University of South Alabama, the editor of Breitbart TV, a columnist for Mobile’s Lagniappe Weekly, and host of Mobile’s “The Jeff Poor Show” from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. on FM Talk 106.5.