10 states file for a lawsuit against the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate, including ND
Governor Doug Burgum recently released his support for North Dakota joining the lawsuit against the Biden Administration’s vaccine mandate for private businesses.
The mandate states that private businesses with 100 or more employees must be vaccinated. The many conservative citizens and politicians in the state are against this idea and it shocked few when the N.D. Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem decided to enter the lawsuit with nine other states.
“The federal government is overstepping its authority by trying to impose a vaccine mandate on state team members in certain agencies just because they receive funding from two federal programs. Likewise, North Dakota hospitals and long-term care facilities also should be allowed to make their own vaccine decisions as private employers and shouldn’t be held hostage by CMS funding,” Burgum said.
While Burgum encourages citizens to get information on the vaccine and vaccinations, he believes the government is overstepping their bounds.
“This isn’t about whether COVID-19 vaccines work — they do — or whether they’re important in health care settings — they are. Rather, this misguided CMS mandate is yet another example of blatant federal overreach by the Biden administration that violates our state’s sovereign right to enact and enforce laws and will only breed additional vaccine resistance and workforce challenges,” Burgum said. “We fully support the attorney general joining this lawsuit and urge the court to immediately block this intrusive and illegal mandate.”
The other states involved in the lawsuit are Missouri, Nebraska, Arkansas, Kansas, Iowa, Wyoming, Alaska, South Dakota and New Hampshire.
The total of 10 states involved in the lawsuit say they are worried that the mandate will affect thousands of jobs, specifically those within healthcare. The states feel that requiring a vaccine in order to avoid termination is unconstitutional. Many of these states are worried how this mandate will affect rural health professionals who often work in already understaffed conditions.
“Yet again, this lawsuit is not about whether people should get vaccinated. Instead, it is about federal overreach and the federal government using an unconstitutional mandate to force front-line health care workers to choose between a vaccination or unemployment. North Dakota is already experiencing a shortage of healthcare workers, and this mandate will only exacerbate the situation,” said Stenehjem.
With N.D. being made up of majority conservative citizens and only about half of citizens being vaccinated, many worry the type of worker shortage this mandate may create.
Stenehjem also believes that the mandate violates the Administrative Procedures Act and the courts should declare as such.
Many democrat politicians and supporters believe the mandate does not do enough and according to CNN oppositional lawsuits will soon follow in order to protect the mandate.
The circuit court chosen for the lawsuit may make a big impact in the final decision on the constitutional credibility of the mandate and democrats hope the court chosen will have an appointed majority of judges by democratic presidents.
The mandate which was set to fall into effect on Jan. 4, has been paused already by The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. The Biden administration has expressed their concerns for this pause as they fear it may cost lives.
No final decision has been made on the mandate’s constitutionality, but many believe if the lawsuit reaches the Supreme Court, which has a conservative majority, it will be deemed unconstitutional.