On November 4, 2021, the Liberty Justice Center and the Pelican Institute for Public Policy filed suit in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to stop the Biden Administration from imposing an illegal COVID-19 vaccine mandate on nearly 100 million Americans.
In September, President Biden announced that the federal government would mandate COVID-19 vaccines for all Americans who work for private companies with 100 or more employees. Because the states, not the federal government, have authority over public health, the Biden Administration is having Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) impose the mandate under the guise of workplace safety. It plans to avoid the normal notice-and-comment procedures by styling the mandate as a emergency temporary standard (ETS).
The Liberty Justice Center is representing a Louisiana business owner and Texas-based employees of a second business who will be adversely affected by the mandate. The Trosclair family operates 16 supermarkets in southern Louisiana and Mississippi with almost 500 employees. The Trosclair companies already face a shortage of full-time employees and the COVID-19 vaccine mandate will make hiring and keeping employees harder for them because many employees do not want to get the vaccine or be subjected to weekly testing.
Six employees of CaptiveAire, a company that manufactures and services commercial ventilation systems, who live in Texas will also be harmed by the mandate because they do not want to be forced to receive the COVID-19 vaccine or be subjected to weekly testing. The mandate is especially problematic for five of the CaptiveAire employees who work remotely.
The Liberty Justice Center is challenging the mandate on grounds that it exceeds OSHA’s statutory authority under the Occupational Safety and Health Act. First, OSHA’s authority is limited to workplace-related hazards, but the risk of COVID-19 infection is a society-wide danger. Second, OSHA cannot show that COVID-19 is a grave danger for all employers with 100 or more employees because only a few months before, it concluded that COVID-19 was only a grave danger to healthcare employers. Additionally, whether COVID is a grave danger in a workplace depends on individual employees’ age and health, not how many co-workers they have. Third, because the mandate applies regardless of individual employee’s risk and difference in workplace conditions, it is not narrowly tailored as emergency standards are required to be. Finally, OSHA’s statutory authority to protect employees from “new hazards” must be read to exclude COVID in light of the preceding language: “substances or agents determined to be toxic or physically harmful.” Otherwise, the agency could promulgate any regulation that would have the arguable effect of preventing the spread of a communicable disease.
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(Bloomberg Law)—President Joe Biden’s litigation opponents are seizing on his remark that the pandemic is “over” as they challenge policies adopted in response to the public health crisis. Republican attorneys general in six states noted Biden’s comment to “60 Minutes” last month in a Sept. 29 suit challenging his plan...
(NPR’s Morning Edition)—Another supreme battle at the U.S. Supreme Court Friday: In a special session, the justices are hearing expedited arguments in cases challenging two major Biden administration regulations aimed at increasing the number of vaccinated workers. The cases are in a preliminary posture, but how the court rules will...
(KLFY)—The state of Louisiana is at the center of the challenges against federal COVID vaccine mandates. Question: Does the federal government have the power to order private businesses and health care workers to be vaccinated against Covid-19? The government says yes. The plaintiffs say no. Either way this plays out...
Jan. 7, 2022 – Brandon Trosclair, a small business owner from Louisiana, joined Fox News to discuss the challenges to the OSHA vaccine mandate being heard by the U.S. Supreme Court. Represented by the Liberty Justice Center and Pelican Institute for Public Policy, Trosclair filed a lawsuit, BST Holdings, LLC...
Jan. 7, 2022 – Daniel Suhr, managing attorney at Liberty Justice Center appeared on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal to discuss the vaccine mandate challenges being heard by the Supreme Court. The Liberty Justice Center and Pelican Institute for Public Policy are representing Trosclair and a group of remote workers from Texas...
(News Nation Now)–The Donlon Report discussed BST Holdings, LLC v. OSHA, the lawsuit challenging the Biden Administration’s federal vaccine mandate, with lead plaintiff Brandon Trosclair, a small business owner from Louisiana, and Daniel Suhr, managing attorney at Liberty Justice Center. The Liberty Justice Center and Pelican Institute for Public Policy...
(Newsmax)–Brandon Trosclair, a small business owner from Louisiana, and Daniel Suhr, managing attorney at Liberty Justice Center, appeared on John Bachman Now to discuss taking the fight against the Biden Administration’s federal vaccine mandate to the Supreme Court. The Liberty Justice Center and Pelican Institute for Public Policy are representing...
(The Center Square)–The U.S. Senate Wednesday night sent the Biden administration a message: Congress’ upper chamber does not support the president’s vaccine mandate on private businesses. With two Democratic senators joining all 50 Republicans, the Senate voted 52-48 to repeal President Joe Biden’s executive mandate requiring that private-sector employers with...
(Liberty Justice Center)—Brandon Trosclair employs nearly 500 people across 15 grocery stores in Louisiana and Mississippi. Under OSHA’s vaccine mandate, Trosclair would be forced to fire any employees who decline the COVID vaccine – many of whom have worked tirelessly since the pandemic’s start. With help from the national law...
(The National Review)—When Brandon Trosclair discovered that President Biden’s vaccine requirement for private businesses would apply to his grocery stores in Louisiana and Mississippi, his first concern was for his employees who have expressed fear and uncertainty about getting vaccinated against COVID-19 or losing their jobs. Trosclair, who owns 16...