SC attorney general files appeal challenging federal vaccine mandate in the U.S. Supreme Court
After the Cincinnati-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit lifted the stay on the federal vaccine mandate for businesses with 100 or more employees, South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson filed an appeal in the U.S. Supreme Court Saturday to challenge the ruling.
“The fight against the Biden mandate continues, even to filing for a stay in the early hours of this morning. The rule of law will prevail and the President’s grasp for power halted,” Wilson said of the appeal that was filed by 27 states and several businesses, hours after the circuit court's ruling.
“This case does not present the question whether vaccines or vaccine mandates are wise or desirable. Instead, it presents the narrow questions whether OSHA had the authority to issue the Mandate, and whether it lawfully exercised whatever authority it had. After all, ‘our system does not permit agencies to act unlawfully,’ even during a pandemic and ‘even in pursuit of desirable ends.’”
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Earlier on Saturday, the U.S. Department of Labor announced that workers who are not fully vaccinated will not have to be regularly tested until Feb. 9, which is more than a month after the original Jan. 4 deadline. This will give employers more time to comply with the requirement that workers either get vaccinated or be regularly tested.
Wilson's move comes after the Ohio based appeals court reversed the decision by a lower court with a 2-1 ruling. Two judges appointed by President Barack Obama said that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration had the legal authority to implement the "emergency temporary standard" requiring vaccines or testing.
"Fundamentally, the ETS is an important step in curtailing the transmission of a deadly virus that has killed over 800,000 people in the United States, brought our healthcare system to its knees, forced businesses to shut down for months on end, and cost hundreds of thousands of workers their jobs," Judge Jane Stranch wrote for the court.
Meanwhile, Judge Joan Larsen, nominated by President Donald Trump, dissented and said that OSHA lacked the statutory authority to issue the mandate.
Of the three federal vaccine mandates for large businesses, healthcare workers and federal contractors, the stay on vaccine requirements for healthcare workers and federal courts remain in place.
The Biden administration has challenged the stays in the Supreme Court.
USA Today contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: South Carolina AG appeals federal vaccine mandate in US Supreme Court
