OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt and three companies have officially requested that the U.S. Supreme Court stay the Biden administration’s vaccine mandates for private businesses with 100 or more employees.
Three companies — Phillips Manufacturing & Tower Company, Sixarp LLC, and Oberg Industries LLC — filed an emergency application for an injunction on Friday, saying the Biden administration is pursuing unlimited federal executive power in the vaccine mandate for private businesses.
This move could be bad for the Biden administration given the Supreme Court has slapped down Biden’s mandates several times already.
“There is no dispute among the parties about the common desire to end the scourge of the COVID-19 pandemic,” reads the application. “The arguments advanced by the Executive Branch admit to no cognizable limits on federal executive power.”
“Frustrated with a minority of Americans’ medical choices, the Executive Branch has attempted to control and surveil the vaccination schedules of enormous swaths of the country’s population,” the application added.
Meanwhile, the vaccine mandate will also jeopardize the companies’ already struggling recruitment efforts, the three applicants said in the application.
Schmitt also asked SCOTUS to stay the Biden administration’s sweeping vaccine mandate.
“This was always destined to go to the nation’s highest court and I’ll continue to fight back against this breathtaking overreach,” he wrote in a Twitter post.
Last week, a federal appeals panel reinstated the rule requiring larger companies to mandate that their workers get vaccinated.
“The record establishes that Covid-19 has continued to spread, mutate, kill and block the safe return of American workers to their jobs,” wrote Judge Jane B. Stranch. “To protect workers, OSHA can and must be able to respond to dangers as they evolve.”
The White House applauded the ruling.
“The OSHA vaccination or testing rule will ensure businesses enact measures that will protect their employees,” Kevin Munoz, a White House spokesman, said in a statement. “Especially as the U.S. faces the highly transmissible Omicron variant, it’s critical we move forward with vaccination requirements and protections for workers with the urgency needed in this moment.”
The National Retail Federation said at the time that it would “consider additional legal options. We will also continue to prepare our members to comply with this onerous mandate.”
Joe Biden is facing a staunch battle against many of his plans, not only from Republicans but from some brave Democrats who have been willing to stand up and say that there are limits to government intrusion into the lives of private citizens.
We have seen it with the stalling of Biden’s Build Back Better plan and we are seeing it now with his vaccine mandates for private businesses.
Montana Democrat Sen. Jon Tester spoke to Fox News anchor Neil Cavuto and called the mandate “problematic” on the same day he joined Republicans and voted against them.
“Well, first of all, I mean, look, I have been vaccinated. My family has been vaccinated. My entire staff has been vaccinated,” the senator said.
“I believe that people need to go out and get vaccinated…But, in the end, I have heard a lot from my businesses in the state of Montana. And they have told me that it’s put them in a heck of a bind. And so I think they should have some relief.
“On the other side, there are other — like the health care folks who need to get vaccinated, I’m not opposed to that at all. In fact, I think it’s the right thing to do. I think it’s common sense, Neil,” he said.
“And I think that we’re at a point in time and of our economy and the recovery and things that have to get done, especially with the bipartisan infrastructure bill that we passed, that we need to pay attention to what folks are telling us,” the senator added.
“And I can tell you, in the state of Montana, folks are saying, business people are saying, this — even though the owners think it’s a good idea to get vaccinated, they’re saying this puts me in a bind. So the mandate issue for the private sector does become problematic for business,” he said.
