Tennessee’s attorney general this week sent a letter to the Biden administration challenging the legality of the 46th president’s recent COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
“I would encourage everyone eligible, in consultation with a doctor, to get a COVID vaccination,” Attorney General Herbert Slatery III said in a statement. “It is one effective way out of this pandemic. However, this vaccine-or-test mandate appears to be an unprecedented expansion of federal power and fails to consider the steps individuals, employers, and our state have already made.”
The letter itself asserts that Joe Biden has no legal authority to issue such a mandate, which compels federal government employees and contractors, as well as employees of any company with more than 100 workers to take the COVID-19 vaccine.
Biden’s mandate was handed down through the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
“I am concerned that this unprecedented assertion of OSHA’s emergency regulatory power does not comply with the requirements of the OSH Act or the restraints of the U.S. Constitution,” the letter says.
“The U.S. Constitution gives ‘[a]ll legislative powers’ to Congress, and Congress cannot circumvent that restriction by delegating its powers to an entity within the executive branch, such as OSHA,” Slatery wrote later in the letter.
The letter also makes an appeal to common sense, noting that some people are at lower risk for serious complications or death from COVID-19 than others.
“Whether due to widespread vaccination, natural immunity, or existing protective measures at a job site, a blanket vaccinate-or-test mandate is not necessary for every employee of a large employer,” Slatery wrote. “The risks of COVID- 19 vary from employee to employee. Younger employees without comorbidities have high survival rates for COVID-l9. As the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] acknowledges, the ‘risk increases for people in their 50s and increases in 60s, 70s, and 80s. People 85 and older are the most likely to get very sick.'”
Whether the Biden administration’s mandate will hold up in court remains to be seen, but this week, a federal judge in New York issued a temporary restraining order against Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), who herself imposed a statewide vaccine mandate.
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Pete D’Abrosca is a contributor at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
