WASHINGTON, D.C. (Dec. 18, 2021)—Louisiana grocery store owner Brandon Trosclair has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the federal government’s vaccine mandate on private businesses. The mandate from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is illegal and violates the rights of American business owners and workers.
Late Friday the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals lifted the suspension on the mandate that had been in place since November. The stay was the result of a petition filed in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals by Louisiana business owner Brandon Trosclair and a group of Texas employees. Trosclair and six employees of CaptiveAire Systems are represented by the national law firm Liberty Justice Center and the Louisiana-based Pelican Institute for Public Policy.
Brandon Trosclair, who employs nearly 500 people across 15 grocery stores in Louisiana and Mississippi said, “I’m proud to stand up on behalf of Americans and business owners who will be harmed by the federal government’s illegal mandate. It is time for our highest court to stop the Biden Administration’s relentless intrusion into Americans’ private lives and businesses.”
The President of the Liberty Justice Center said, “This is the most egregious overreach of the federal government in a generation and Americans will not stand for it. The Biden Administration does not have the legal authority to mandate Americans put shots into their arms or lose their jobs. This fight must go to the U.S. Supreme Court, and we look forward to protecting the rights of our clients and all Americans in this historic fight.”
Sarah Harbison, General Counsel at the Pelican Institute for Public Policy said, “It has never been more important for the Supreme Court to step in and vindicate the rights of Americans. The Fifth Circuit was correct when it issued the original stay in the case filed by Brandon Trosclair in Louisiana, arguing that there were ‘grave constitutional and statutory issues’ with the mandate. This fight is not over. We will continue to fight for the rights of workers and entrepreneurs and put a permanent end to this illegal mandate when it reaches the Supreme Court.”
In November, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a nationwide stay barring any efforts to implement or enforce the OSHA vaccine mandate. The Fifth Circuit panel said, “The Mandate threatens to substantially burden the liberty interests of reluctant individual recipients put to a choice between their job(s) and their jab(s).” The Sixth Circuit’s order comes as the Biden Administration’s two other vaccine mandates for civilians, one for healthcare workers and another for federal contractors, are blocked by several federal courts.
BST Holdings, LLC v. OSHA was filed Nov. 5, 2021, in U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans.