SC AG Alan Wilson, 23 others threaten lawsuit over Biden’s COVID mandate vaccine plan
South Carolina’s Republican Attorney General Alan Wilson has joined 23 other state attorneys general to warn the Biden administration that if their newly-announced vaccine mandate plan takes effect they will sue.
The warning letter, sent Thursday, is aimed at stopping the implementation of a vaccine mandate plan announced by the Biden administration last week. It, among other requirements, would require companies with more than 100 employees to ensure workers are vaccinated or tested for COVID-19 each week.
In the letter, the attorneys general called the plan was “disastrous and counterproductive.” They added it represents a “threat to individual liberty,” and could result in a public health disaster if it drives health care workers to quit because they don’t want to comply with the mandate.
“Regardless of how you feel about vaccines, President Biden’s edict is illegal and if the administration doesn’t change course we’ll pursue every legal option to strike it down,” Wilson, a Republican, said in a statement Thursday. “I’m fully vaccinated and encourage everyone who can to get the shot, but this is a question of following the law. We think it will also mean fewer people will get vaccinated, which we’ve already seen in New York, where health care workers quit because of New York’s vaccine mandate.”
Wilson was joined by attorneys general from Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming.
Last week, President Joe Biden announced a new vaccine mandate plan, which, in part, would require millions of private sector workers get vaccinated. The plan would order the Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration to require companies with more than 100 employees to ensure workers are vaccinated or tested for COVID-19 each week.
In all, the mandate is expected to impact more than 100 million workers across the country.
As of Thursday, 50% of eligible South Carolinians eligible were fully vaccinated, and about 58.8% of eligible South Carolinians have received at least one dose, according to the state Department of Health and Environmental Control.
Biden’s proposed order sparked instant backlash from Republicans and business community conservatives.
Gov. Henry McMaster vowed to fight the mandate “to the gates of hell,” just one day after it was issued.
“The American Dream has turned into a nightmare under President Biden and the radical Democrats,” McMaster tweeted. “They have declared war against capitalism, thumbed their noses at the Constitution, and empowered our enemies abroad.”
In their letter, the 24 attorneys general argued that Biden’s plan was flawed because it doesn’t take into account the individual situations of each employee or work place. They argued that workers who work from home and people who work outside don’t have to interact daily with others and may not need the vaccine to keep them safe.
They also argued that the law Biden is using has seen little use since it was passed and has faced several court challenges. The law has only been used 10 times since it passed, the letter said, and only once was the rule issued by OSHA upheld by courts; one instance of the use is still being challenged in court.
“The vaccines have helped protect millions of Americans, and there are surely others who could benefit from obtaining this treatment,” the letter read. “But convincing those who are hesitant to do so would require you to allow room for discussion or disagreement. Instead, you have offered the American people flimsy legal arguments, contradictory statements and threatening directives.”
This story was originally published September 16, 2021 at 3:08 PM.
