On Saturday, a US federal appeals court issued a stay that freezes the Biden administration’s mandate to force American employees in the private sector who work for companies with at least 100 employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19 or to be tested weekly. The court cited “grave statutory and constitutional concerns” with the administration’s mandate.
The ruling from the Fifth Circuit of the United States Court of Appeals comes after numerous Republican-led states filed legal challenges against the new rule, which is set to take effect on January 4.
The application to the appeals court was made by businesses and numerous states, including Texas.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott took to social media to spread the news.
“BREAKING: The Federal Court of Appeals just issued a temporary halt to Biden’s vaccine mandate. Emergency hearings will take place soon. We will have our day in court to strike down Biden’s unconstitutional abuse of authority.”
BREAKING: The Federal Court of Appeals just issued a temporary halt to Biden’s vaccine mandate.
Emergency hearings will take place soon.
We will have our day in court to strike down Biden’s unconstitutional abuse of authority. pic.twitter.com/8utmU05vw3
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) November 6, 2021
The Texas Attorney General’s office also tweeted out the news.
“Yesterday, I sued the Biden Admin over its unlawful OSHA vax mandate. WE WON. Just this morning, citing ‘grave statutory and constitutional issues,’ the 5th Circuit stayed the mandate. The fight is not over and I will never stop resisting this Admin’s unconstitutional overreach!”
Yesterday, I sued the Biden Admin over its unlawful OSHA vax mandate.
WE WON. Just this morning, citing “grave statutory and constitutional issues,” the 5th Circuit stayed the mandate. The fight is not over and I will never stop resisting this Admin’s unconstitutional overreach! pic.twitter.com/okt2vkNRKo
— Texas Attorney General (@TXAG) November 6, 2021
Seema Nanda, Solicitor of Labor, said in a statement that the Labor Department was “confident in its legal authority” to make the rule, which is supposed to be enforced by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
“The Occupational Safety and Health Act explicitly gives OSHA the authority to act quickly in an emergency where the agency finds that workers are subjected to a grave danger and a new standard is necessary to protect them,” she said. “We are fully prepared to defend this standard in court.”
That means absolutely nothing coming from this lawless administration.
Here’s how this administration lies. First, there is no grave danger to workers in businesses because American companies are smart. They have adapted to the COVID protections that the federal government has given out as guidelines. Is the federal government now telling us that the COVID guidelines they gave out all along were bogus? Second, OSHA is about workplace hazards like machinery or chemicals that the company provides for the workers to do their job. No company provides COVID-19 and therefore, having OSHA enforce it is a stretch even for the clowns in the Biden administration.
This stay on the vaccine mandate comes just two days after the administration announced the rule. Almost immediately after it was announced, there were promises of legal action from Republican governors and businesses, who argued the mandate was government overreach by the Biden administration.
The move to force companies with 100 or more employees to make their workers get vaccinated would apply to over 84 million workers, according to OSHA.
The court order handed down on Saturday was in response to a joint petition from several businesses, advocacy groups, and the states of Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, and Utah. The mandate is also getting hit with other lawsuits that are flooding in from other courts.
The two-page order directs the Biden administration to respond to the request for a permanent injunction against the rule by 5 p.m. Monday.
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