November 11, 2021 |
Even as Wyoming waits for a court ruling on a lawsuit filed last week Friday against the Biden administration over vaccine mandates, the state joined another legal case against the White House over forced jabs yesterday.
Governor Mark Gordon announced that Wyoming and 10 other states are suing the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. CMS is seeking to impose a vaccine mandate on healthcare workers across the nation.
The lawsuit was filed in the Eastern District Court of Missouri. The court filing states that the forced inoculations of COVID-19 drugs proposed by the CMS “imposes an unprecedented federal vaccine mandate on nearly every full-time employee, part-time employee, volunteer, and contractor working at a wide range of healthcare facilities receiving Medicaid or Medicare funding.”
Governor Gordon said the mandate will worsen the already short supply of nursing professionals in rural states like Wyoming.
Yesterday’s court filing is the third lawsuit Wyoming has joined to challenge the Biden administration over forcing COVID-19 drugs onto people who refuse to accept them voluntarily. In addition to yesterday’s lawsuit involving healthcare workers, Wyoming is also suing the White House over mandates on federal contractors and federally contracted employees. The third legal challenge is over the OSHA emergency rule announced last week that will force the Big-Pharma shots on employees of private businesses with 100 or more employees. The White House admits that the OSHA rule and CMS rules impact two-thirds of the American workforce.
The nine-count lawsuit filed yesterday argues that the White House is acting without Constitutional authority in forcing healthcare workers to choose between the jab and their jobs. The lawsuit argues that the Tenth Amendment puts the Biden Administration outside the law in its attempt to wield broad powers that belong to the states. The attorneys general make the case that the states are in the best position to know what local conditions exist that might warrant compulsory vaccinations. What’s appropriate for New York City, for instance, might be counterproductive and harmful in rural places like Wyoming, they argue.
One of the potential consequences of the mandate is the impact it could have on public health if workers quit their jobs. A recent study from the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL) found long-term care facilities are facing the worst labor crisis and job losses of any other health care sector. Employment levels in the industry dropped by 14 percent since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the court filing, Wyoming notes that it already is experiencing a significant shortage of healthcare workers. National Guard troops were deployed this summer to help hospitals operating in “crisis standards.”
The lawsuit seeks to halt what it says is the “dragooning” of healthcare heroes who risked their lives in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic “for strangers and friends in their communities.”
Missouri is leading the lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in Saint Louis. Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmidt said his office will continue to be a national leader in challenging the illegal acts of the White House.
Wyoming joined the lawsuit two weeks after the legislature called itself into special session, but failed to produce any significant legislation to protect state residents from the federal power grab. The legislature did provide counsel and funding to pursue a remedy to the mandates in the courts.
In addition to Missouri and Wyoming, the other states in the coalition are, Nebraska, Arkansas, Kansas, Iowa, Alaska South Dakota North Dakota and New Hampshire.
Meanwhile, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeal in Saint Louis has not yet ruled on the request for an injunction in the lawsuit filed last Friday over the mandate on private businesses.
