MO Attorney General Eric Schmitt addresses reporters in Jefferson City
What is your reaction to the decision regarding the Biden Administration’s vaccine mandate?
It’s a big win. I mean, it’s a big win for, you know, hardworking Americans, those in the healthcare field that want to make their own decisions. And you know, and don’t want to be subjected to this egregious government overreach. The bottom line here is the federal government just simply doesn’t have any power in the Constitution or any statutory authority to force the vaccinations here. So this was a big win Missouri led this lawsuit. We’ve got two other lawsuits pending on the federal contractor mandate and the OSHA mandate, on the private employer mandate, there’s already been a victory there is that makes its way through the court. So we’re fighting back, and we’re pushing back. And to me, this is about who we are as a country, it’s about individual liberty. It’s about people being able to make these decisions. And we’re very pleased with the court’s ruling today.
Are you vaccinated?
I’ve answered this question before. I think it’s a creepy question. But yes.
Creepy. Okay.
But you still insist it’s a personal decision.
Yeah, I’ve been pretty clear that this is a decision for individuals to make and the government shouldn’t be dictating, dictating this to families, individuals.
You have a few suits in motion right now.
Yeah, so there’s basically three big buckets here, the one that was you know, timely today was the win on the federal health care worker, the CMS vaccine mandate. So that’s a victory. There’s the OSHA private employer mandate that affects private employers, over 100 employees, that’s been temporarily halted. So Missouri was the first state to file suit there as well. All of those cases across the country now have been consolidated into the sixth district, and will make their way ultimately, probably to the Supreme Court. And then the third bucket here is the federal contractor mandate, which affects about 25% of the workforce. So in Missouri was first in line on that, too, and that’s pending in the Eastern District of Missouri as well. So all of these are going to move quickly. There’s deadlines, obviously approaching. And I think because of the significance of these cases, they’re going to move along quickly. And, again, there’s just no authority at all, for the federal government, which is supposed to be a government of limited powers, to require the vaccination to force the vaccination of, you know, 100 million Americans on the on the private contractor side 25%, or the private employee side 25% of workforce on the
on the federal contractor side, and then for the men and women who work in health care, who were, you know, a lot of his heroes, rightfully so year ago, facing time on the unemployment line is just it’s unconscionable. And the truth of the matter is, in one of the reasons I think our complaint was so powerful, was that you’re going to have rural hospitals that would have closed nursing homes that would have closed because people just you know, they didn’t want to take the vaccine, they didn’t want to be forced to do it. And so all of those reasons, in addition to the the, you know, the law mattering here, I think, is why the judge ruled the way he ruled today.
What do you think is the action will be?
I would expect the Department of Justice will appeal. And there’ll be, you know, a very quick briefing schedule adopted by the Court of Appeals, and then you’re likely to see similar rulings across the country in the coming days, Missouri was first when in so the ruling came today. So, you know, you could end up in a situation where all of these are headed the Supreme Court, also like the OSHA mandate, as easy as that is now. And so I think all of these, all three of these sets of cases are going to make their way that the issues are just too big. The number of people effect is too large. I think that you know, the Supreme Court is gonna get away in here one way or another. And again, I’m confident I’m confident the likely to success, because again, there’s no constitutional or statutory authority for this at all.
