Michael Cardinal, FISM News
Arizona attorney general, Mark Brnovich, filed a lawsuit regarding the newly announced vaccine mandates on Tuesday calling it an” unprecedented and unconstitutional power grab by the Biden administration.” This is the first lawsuit filed by a state after Biden announced sweeping mandates last week forcing companies with 100 employees or more to require that their employees be vaccinated or tested each week.
Immediately following Biden’s announcement of the mandate several Republican politicians voiced their outrage over what they called draconian mandates that invaded the personal freedom’s of American citizens. Many had vowed to sue the president and it appears that this will be the first of many lawsuits that will challenge the White House.
In a tweet announcing the lawsuit, Brnovich said the his filing is an attempt to hold the Biden administration accountable:
I promised Arizonans that we would not stand for the Biden Administration's egregious federal overreach on vaccine mandates.
Today, we have filed the first lawsuit in the nation against the unconstitutional mandates. Arizona will not tolerate this assault on our sovereignty. pic.twitter.com/1eHAUX8GYs
— Mark Brnovich (@GeneralBrnovich) September 14, 2021
The lawsuit asserts that the vaccine mandates violates the Equal Protection Clause as it favors “aliens that have unlawfully entered the United States over actual U.S. citizens, both native and foreign born.” The lawsuit further explains that the mandates are not applied equally across board as it “disclaimed any COVID-19 vaccination requirement for unauthorized aliens, even those being released directly into the United States, adding “The Biden Administration allows migrants to decline the vaccine, protecting their freedom and bodily autonomy more than American citizens.”
The lawsuit also asserts that “the Federal Government lacks the authority to directly impose a mandate,” and points to a since deleted tweet from Chief of Staff Ronald Klain as an “inadvertent admission” of this:
WH Chief of Staff might regret this retweet.
Courts consider the intent and purpose of policies and Klain just endorsed the notion that OSHA rule is a "work-around" to enact flagrantly illegal federal vaccine mandates. pic.twitter.com/RBB4ihsIiL
— Matthew Hamilton (@MatthewDavidHa4) September 9, 2021
In a statement the attorney general reiterated this sentiment, saying, “The federal government cannot force people to get the COVID-19 vaccine. The Biden Administration is once again flouting our laws and precedents to push their radical agenda.”
Brnovich said he believes lawsuits by other states will explore the federal government’s lack of authority more fully, as his lawsuit focuses on the discrepancy between the mandates for citizens and lack of mandates of illegal immigrants.
In the Arizona Attorney General Office press release Brnovich goes further saying that Biden is rivaling King George III by making policy through “royal decree”:
Under our Constitution, the President is not a king who can exercise this sort of unbridled power unilaterally. And even George III wouldn’t have dreamed that he could enact such sweeping policies by royal decree alone.”
The White House has not yet responded to the lawsuit.