ARLINGTON, Va. (WJLA) — Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares has joined a coalition of 27 attorneys general calling on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to withdraw its COVID-19 vaccine mandate for large employers.
In a 6-3 opinion last week, the justices said the Occupational Safety and Health Administration does not have the authority to mandate the COVID-19 vaccine, saying the virus is not considered an occupational hazard for most jobs.
That mandate would have applied to two-thirds of the American workforce.
OSHA’s emergency temporary standard (ETS), which would require vaccination for millions of employees, has not yet been rescinded.
“The Supreme Court was clear – the federal government does not have the authority to force Virginians to choose between their jobs and the vaccine,” Miyares said, according to a press release on Wednesday.
In the letter, the coalition claims that the current OSHA mandate is unlawful because it lacks the authority to issue a broad vaccine mandate for larger employers.
“[T]he [Occupational Safety and Health] Act was designed to address dangers employees face at work because of their work—not dangers that are no more prevalent at work than in society generally,” the letter says. “The United States Supreme Court agrees and held that the ETS—or any similar permanent standard for that matter—fails to address a unique workplace hazard and is therefore unlawful.”
The letter was led by Kentucky and co-signed by attorneys general from Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
Read the full letter, embedded below:
“I promised to fight back against federal overreach, and protect the constitutional rights and individual dignity of Virginians,” Miyares said. “Today, I’m proud to announce that I’ve joined 26 states in fighting back against OSHA’s continued power grab attempt.”