JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – In preparation for Attorney General Eric Schmitt’s Supreme Court battle over the Biden administration’s employer vaccine mandate, several members of the Missouri legislature sent letters to Schmitt supporting the fight. 

State Sen. Cindy O’Laughlin and Rep. Nick Schroer, along with 21 other senators and several state representatives, sent letters in support of Schmitt’s “fight to preserve the United States Constitution, the rights of all Missourians, and the right to quality health care in rural areas.”

Schmitt led a coalition of 27 states that filed legal challenges in November against the OSHA vaccine mandate for private employers and the CMS vaccine mandate for healthcare workers serving Medicare and Medicaid patients. Since being filed directly in five federal courts of appeals, the legal challenges were expected to end up in the Supreme Court.

“In our view, this vaccine mandate is the latest attempt to alter the balance of power between the states and the federal government, stripping the states of their long-held ability to legislate public health,” O’Laughlin wrote in the Senate’s letter. 

“There is a reason the Missouri General Assembly has not imposed such a one-size-fits-all mandate. The Missouri legislature applauds you for your vigilance and quick action last month, and stands behind you in your ongoing efforts to preserve access to quality health care across Missouri.”

Similar sentiments were expressed by members of the Missouri House of Representatives in their letter to Schmitt.

“Our General Assembly firmly believes in the separation of powers set forth in our founding documents,” said Rep. Schroer in the House’s letter. “We understand that our federal system is designed to entrust such prudential decisions to the states and applaud your vigilance and quick action to preserve our liberty and constitutional rights as soon as this mandate was issued.”

The Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments on the OSHA private employer vaccine mandate and the CMS health care worker vaccine mandate on Friday at 10 a.m.