Arizona Legislative Leaders Continue Fight Against Federal Vaccine Mandates

Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen (R-Gilbert) announced Wednesday that he, along with House Speaker Ben Toma (R-Peoria), filed an emergency application with the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) to halt any enforcement of President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

“We will not allow President Biden to blatantly undermine the will of the Arizona State Legislature in the protections we’ve provided for our citizens to prevent a COVID-19 vaccine mandate from dictating employment opportunities,” said Petersen. “The Biden Administration has made it clear that they are against any Americans who push back against this vaccine and will abuse their powers in order to force compliance as a stipulation of doing business with the federal government.”

This situation revolves around Executive Order 14042, which Biden issued on September 9th, 2021. The order mandated that government contractors and employees receive the vaccine or potentially lose their jobs. According to the legislator’s application, which the Senate Majority Caucus emailed to reporters, government contractors make up roughly 30 million workers in the U.S.

Arizona quickly challenged Biden’s order, as former Attorney General Mark Brnovich (R) filed a lawsuit in December 2021. He alleged that the order violated the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act (Procurement Act), which gives the president the power to regulate government agencies’ spending economically and effectively.

At first, things went well for the state, as the U.S. District Court of Arizona agreed with Brnovich’s arguments. The court stated that the order did exceed the scope of the president’s authority under the Procurement Act and granted a permanent injunction preventing the order from being enforced in Arizona.

However, the Biden administration appealed this decision, and the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in the president’s favor in an opinion released on April 19th. Circuit Judge Mark Bennett wrote that Biden’s mandate “would promote economy and efficiency in federal contracting.” With the opinion, the circuit court issued a stay, dissolving the injunction made by the lower court.

Additionally, Kris Mayes (D) is now the Arizona Attorney General. According to the House Majority Team, Mayes will not fully defend the injunction, leading to Petersen and Toma entering the picture.

In the new application, the legislators argued that this case merits SCOTUS review because it “substantially erodes the separation of powers.” They claimed that the state would face “irreparable harm” if the stay is allowed, including the costs the state may incur in ensuring state agencies comply with the order, which would be unrecoverable.

Aside from any monetary costs, Petersen and Toma argue the state will take a hit to its sovereign authorities. The Arizona State Legislature has already enacted measures to avoid a government-mandated vaccine mandate, such as Arizona Revised Statutes (ARS) § 36-685.

“By reimbuing the Contractor Mandate with legal force and effect, the Ninth Circuit’s stay effectively abrogates a duly enacted statute that was adopted through Arizona’s democratic processes in the exercise of its sovereign will,” according to the application.

Moreover, although Arizona does not currently have a law prohibiting a vaccine mandate in the private sector, the order may prevent it from doing so in the future, which the lawmakers argued also curbs the state’s sovereign authorities. Aside from this, they stated that if SCOTUS reversed the stay, it would, at the very least, not harm Arizona’s government or the will of public interests.

Therefore, Petersen and Toma asked SCOTUS to reinstate the injunction and treat their application as a petition for the court to review the circuit’s decision.

“Arizona will not tolerate this gross government overreach and intrusion of individual liberties. The Legislature’s intervention in this lawsuit against President Biden is critical in protecting the sovereignty of our state and the rights of all Arizonans,” Petersen concluded.

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Neil Jones is a reporter for The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Neil on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].

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