PHOENIX — Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich is suing President Joe Biden and his administration for the recently implemented vaccine mandate for federal employees and businesses with 100 or more workers.
The Attorney General's office called the country-wide mandate "unconstitutional" in the first state lawsuit filed against the Biden administration's vaccine protocols.
“The federal government cannot force people to get the COVID-19 vaccine. The Biden Administration is once again flouting our laws and precedents to push their radical agenda,” said Brnovich in a news release. “There can be no serious or scientific discussion about containing the spread of COVID-19 that doesn’t begin at our southern border.”
In his brief, Brnovich said Biden is "not a king" and calls the vaccine mandate "one of the greatest infringements upon individual liberties, principles of federalism, and separation of powers ever attempted by an American President."
The AG's office argued that Biden's mandate favors migrants that have illegally crossed into the country over legal U.S. citizens, violating the Equal Protection Clause.
Biden sharply criticized the tens of millions of Americans who are not yet vaccinated, despite months of availability and incentives, when he first announced the mandate in early Sept.
The expansive rules mandate that all employers with more than 100 workers require them to be vaccinated or test for the virus weekly, affecting about 80 million Americans. And the roughly 17 million workers at health facilities that receive federal Medicare or Medicaid also will have to be fully vaccinated.
Biden is also requiring vaccination for employees of the executive branch and contractors who do business with the federal government — with no option to test out. That covers several million more workers.
Biden announced the new requirements in a Sept. 9 address from the White House as part of a new “action plan” to address the latest rise in coronavirus cases and the stagnating pace of COVID-19 shots.
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Governor Doug Ducey also threatened to push back against Biden's mandate.
In a release sent the day after it was announced, Ducey stated he will pursue "all legal and administrative actions" to stop Biden mandates.
"People don't want them hammering down on them to get this vaccine," Ducey said. "This requires pushback and a response and that's what the state of Arizona is going to do."
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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