WASHINGTON, D.C. – The United States Supreme Court will hear opening oral arguments tomorrow morning for Missouri and Louisiana’s lawsuit against President Biden’s vaccine mandate for federal healthcare workers.
Biden issued an “emergency regulation” on Nov. 4 for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to require COVID-19 vaccinations for all healthcare workers who offer the federal services. Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt and Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry immediately filed suit, alongside several other states, in an effort to halt the implementation of the mandate.
“Tomorrow morning, my office will argue in front of the United States Supreme Court to again stop the Biden administration and the federal government from imposing their unconstitutional vaccine mandate on healthcare workers in Missouri and across the country,” Schmitt said.
Schmitt, a U.S. Senate candidate, has been a leading objector to the Biden administration’s attempts to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations, filing various lawsuits alongside several other states in an effort to halt each of Biden’s mandate attempts.
The lawsuit argues that the Biden administration acted without statutory authority by enacting the mandate and violated the Administrative Procedure Act, the Social Security Act, the Congressional Review Act and the U.S. Constitution.
“In Missouri, rural hospitals, nursing homes, and healthcare organizations are facing staffing shortages as it is, and forcing their employees to get vaccinated or join the unemployment line could potentially lead to their collapse,” Schmitt said.
Schmitt isn’t the only one who believes the vaccine mandate could lead to even further staffing shortages and potential desecration of several hospitals and healthcare providers. Dr. Randy Tobler, CEO of Scotland County Hospital in Memphis, Missouri, feels his facility is in jeopardy of losing more staff and believes a mandate does more harm than good.
“[We’re all] very pro-vaccine, but a mandate in a community that has resistance to it is counterproductive,” Tobler said. “It only boomerangs and hurts our ability to do the services that the president and the administration would like us to render. It really threatens the very goal that’s trying to be achieved, and that’s to render quality services.”
The lawsuit also includes several affidavits from Tobler and other healthcare professionals across Missouri who agree the mandate would be detrimental to their facilities’ ability to provide adequate care.
Brittany Vanlandingham, the administrator of the Monroe City Manor Care Center, said in her affidavit that over half of MCMCC’s unvaccinated staff would “choose to leave healthcare completely over being forced to get the COVID-19 vaccine.”
“The loss of such additional employees will cause significant difficulty in the continued operation of MCMCC,” Vanlandingham wrote.
Several members of Missouri’s General Assembly have also expressed their support of Schmitt and Landry’s legal challenge. State Sen. Cindy O’Laughlin and Rep. Nick Schroer, along with 21 other senators and several state representatives, sent letters of encouragement to the Missouri attorney general ahead of Friday morning’s opening arguments.
Oral arguments in Biden v. Missouri/Becerra v. Louisiana will be heard on Friday at 10 a.m. CT and will be streamed live on C-SPAN and the Supreme Court’s website.
“The rule of law is on our side, and I look forward to preventing the federal government from imposing medical tyranny on our citizens and turning last year’s healthcare heroes into this year’s unemployed,” Landry said.
