ADF asks Supreme Court to halt enforcement of unlawful vaccine mandate

WASHINGTON – Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing several clients challenging the Biden administration’s private employer vaccine mandate asked the U.S. Supreme Court to halt enforcement of this mandate issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. ADF attorneys filed an emergency application for stay Friday with the Supreme Court following a ruling by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit that allowed OSHA to enforce the vaccine mandate. ADF also asked that the Supreme Court grant an immediate appeal.

Within days of the issuance of the OSHA mandate, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit stayed the mandate and halted OSHA’s enforcement of it. Because multiple lawsuits were filed all over the country, this allowed the government to seek a consolidation and transfer to a randomly designated court. The 6th Circuit was selected to handle the consolidated OSHA case under the name In re: MCP No. 165 OSHA Rule on COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing.

The three-judge panel for the 6th Circuit lifted the stay previously issued by the 5th Circuit that had halted enforcement of the vaccine mandate for private employers with 100 or more employees. In a separate order only days before, a group of eight judges on the 6th Circuit indicated their view that the mandate is unlawful. Friday’s decision by the 6th Circuit panel prompted ADF attorneys to seek a emergency relief from enforcement of the mandate—and seek the Supreme Court’s direct review—on behalf of their clients who would be required to force unvaccinated employees to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, be subject to weekly testing and masking requirements, or lose their job.

“The government has no authority to unilaterally treat unvaccinated employees like workplace hazards akin to asbestos or toxic chemicals, or to compel employers to carry out the government’s unlawful national vaccine mandate. The profoundly negative effect of this upon those employers and the 80 million American workers who are impacted is just one reason the Supreme Court immediately should halt enforcement of the mandate,” said ADF Senior Counsel Ryan Bangert. “The Biden administration’s decision to mandate vaccines through an OSHA emergency rule is the height of government overreach.”

ADF attorneys represent several religious employers challenging the mandate including The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, as well as Bishop O’Gorman Catholic Schools, Christian Employers Alliance, Home School Legal Defense Association, Cambridge Christian School, and The King’s Academy in the now consolidated cases.

Along with attorneys at the Dhillon Law Group, ADF also represents the Daily Wire in challenging the mandate.

Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.

# # #