(LifeSiteNews) – At least 20 Republican states have announced that they may take legal action to block the Biden administration’s COVID-19 vaccination requirements for tens of millions of American workers in the private sector.
Dozens of Republican governors and state attorneys general quickly slammed the new COVID-19 rules unveiled by Joe Biden in a speech yesterday, which include a dictate to force U.S. businesses with more than 100 employees to require workers either to take the coronavirus vaccine or undergo weekly testing.
That rule, which has yet to be formalized, will come through the Department of Labor’s Office of Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Biden said, and may lead to $14,000 in fines per violation. Biden also announced that he will mandate vaccination, with no testing option, for all federal employees, federal contractors, healthcare workers at facilities that accept Medicare or Medicaid funding, and 300,000 educators with the federal Head Start program.
The move drew almost unanimous backlash from conservative leaders across the country.
“When you have a president like Biden issuing unconstitutional edicts against the American people, we have a responsibility to stand up for the Constitution and to fight back, and we are doing that in the state of Florida,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Friday. “This is a president who has acknowledged in the past he does not have the authority to force this on anybody, and this order would result potentially in millions of Americans losing their jobs.”
Texas has also threatened to take action, Gov. Greg Abbott tweeting yesterday that “Texas is already working to halt this power grab.” The state’s attorney general, Ken Paxton, affirmed that Texas has plans to sue the Biden administration “very soon.”
I will see you in court soon! https://t.co/Ukugz3Wx6b
— Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) September 10, 2021
Governors and attorneys general in nearly every Republican-led state have made similar comments, Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte calling the Biden administration’s new mandates “gross federal overreach” and “unlawful in Montana.”
“OSHA cannot dictate personal health care decisions for Missourians,” read a statement from Missouri Gov. Mike Parson’s office on Friday. “Missouri is not under an OSHA state plan, and Parson will not allow state employees to be used to enforce this unconstitutional action.”
“Joe Biden doesn’t have the legal authority to force COVID vaccines on millions of Americans. His proposal is unlawful and historic in its overreach. Lawsuits are coming,” Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt likewise pledged today, echoing comments from attorneys general in Arizona, Kansas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Utah.
As Biden began his remarks last night, Gov. Henry McMaster of South Carolina even vowed to fight him and fellow “radical Democrats” “to the gates of hell.” Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy described the administration’s “unenforceable” vaccine rules as “a case for the 25th Amendment.”
The American Dream has turned into a nightmare under President Biden and the radical Democrats. They have declared war against capitalism, thumbed their noses at the Constitution, and empowered our enemies abroad.
— Gov. Henry McMaster (@henrymcmaster) September 9, 2021
Republican governors especially took aim at Biden’s declaration Thursday that he would use his “power as President” to push governors who resist COVID-19 mandates “out of the way.”
“The White House needs to be reminded that the states created the federal government, not the other way around,” said Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota, who floated “mounting a legal challenge to this mandate.”
“Governors don’t report to Joe Biden. Governors don’t report to the federal government, the states created the federal government, and Joe Biden has stepped out of his reach,” Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey similarly said. “These mandates are outrageous. They will never stand up in court. We must and will push back.”
“How many businesses are going to lose employees?” he asked.
Other governors who have explicitly announced possible legal action against the Biden regime include Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, Idaho Gov. Brad Little, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves, Ohio Gov. Ron DeWine, Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, and Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon.
Top Republican state leaders have reportedly begun working together against Biden’s latest COVID-19 plan, as well. “A conference call with Republican governors just wrapped up,” Gov. Kay Ivey of Alabama revealed earlier today. “President Biden has overreached with these new mandates, and we’re united in fighting back. I’m partnering alongside my conservative colleagues across the country in this fight.”
State attorneys general appear to be developing a similar coalition, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita said Thursday. “My team and I, along with other like-minded attorneys general, are reviewing all legal action on how to stand against these authoritarian actions by the Biden administration,” Rokita said.
The Republican National Committee will also sue “to protect Americans and their liberties” if the administration’s proposed orders come into effect, according to chairwoman Ronna McDaniel.
Joe Biden responded to threats of lawsuits on Friday, saying that he’s “disappointed” with defiant governors and telling them to “Have at it.”
Biden’s unprecedented federal vaccine mandates brazenly contradict numerous past assertions from the White House that it would not attempt to make coronavirus vaccination compulsory. “I don’t think it should be mandatory, I wouldn’t demand it to be mandatory,” Biden stated last year.
“He lied,” House Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) tweeted.
The reversal also comes amid sharply dropping vaccine efficacy, worker shortages due to COVID vaccine mandates, and several foreign and domestic crises for the Biden administration, like record-level inflation and the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan.