Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and state Attorney General Chris Carr on Friday announced that they filed a lawsuit challenging the Biden administration’s employer vaccine mandate.
The Federal Register published The Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) setting forth the mandate on Friday, the press release said.
Kemp addressed the matter in an emailed press release.
“In addition to vilifying Americans for their personal choices, Joe Biden’s vaccine mandates are unlawful and a recipe for economic disaster,” Kemp said in the press release.
“With inflation skyrocketing, the supply chain screeching to a halt, and job creators across the country desperately searching for more workers, Biden is pouring gasoline on a fire. This federal government power-grab defies reason, and Attorney General Carr and I will not allow this administration to force hardworking Georgians to choose between their livelihoods and this vaccine.”
The lawsuit challenges the ETS as issued by the Biden administration’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the United States Department of Labor. Specifically, the lawsuit asserts that the ETS:
• Exceeds the Department of Labor’s statutory authority
• Fails to comply with the standards for issuing an ETS
• Conflicts with the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act
Kemp said on Wednesday that President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal contractors could kill several Georgia jobs and even compromise the state’s food safety.
Kemp — flanked by Carr and state Agricultural Commissioner Gary Black — alerted the public at a press conference at the Georgia State Capitol. Carr said Biden’s mandate is unconstitutional and he will sue to stop what he called the president’s overreach.
“This lawsuit is about whether a president has the authority to effectively run a state agency by manipulating his contractor power,” Carr said.
“He does not.”
Kemp warned that business owners who work with the federal government are now more likely to lose employees to competitors.
Carr said this was “an unprecedented and unconstitutional use of power by a president.”
Black, meanwhile, said the COVID-19 pandemic proves America’s agriculture is paramount. He also spoke of cooperative agreements with the Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“We need clarity. We need to know if food inspection will be interrupted by a presidential executive order? Is meat inspection going to be interrupted?” Black asked.
“It goes much further. In our farming communities in the state of Georgia where there is a significant grassroots involvement at the local level for the USDA, there are locally-elected committees of farmers who interact with the federal government who themselves through this action have been told they can no longer serve on those local committees unless we turn to a very desperate attempt and, in my view, almost looking into World War II times of ‘Please show me your papers to enter.’”
Biden, in September and by executive order, directed federal departments and agencies to include a clause in contracts requiring all contractors and subcontractors to adopt COVID Safety protocols.
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
