Republican Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich told radio show host and Daily Caller Editorial Director Vince Coglianese Wednesday that his state is working alongside other states to stop President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate.
Arizona became the first state to sue the Biden administration Tuesday to challenge its vaccine mandate, which enforces that private businesses with at least 100 employees must require COVID-19 vaccinations or weekly testing.
“Tell me where in the Constitution does the president have the power to unilaterally require any individual, whether a federal employer or not, to get a vaccine or to insert anything into their arm or body. So our lawsuit basically says, that even to that executive order, even before OSHA promulgates the rules, they have violated essential constitutional principles because it violates traditional notions of federalism, that is the states were supposed to take care of public safety and welfare, not the federal government,” Brnovich said.
“I think every attorney general is analyzing the best way they can proceed to stop the Biden administration’s overreach,” the attorney general continued. “I know my colleagues and I actually have a letter that is gonna be sent very shortly to President Biden’s administration expressing all of our concerns from a constitutional perspective.”
“And I do know that we are working closely with several other states as to other possible tracks of litigation. And so I think this is another one of those situations where it’s all hands on deck. He has all hands on deck, we’re going to do everything we can to stop this.” (RELATED: ‘This Is Not About Freedom’: Biden Says Getting Vaccine Is Not A ‘Personal Choice’)
Thank you to everyone who has expressed support for our lawsuit against the Biden Administration’s unprecedented, unheard-of, and unconstitutional federal vaccine mandates.
Arizona will continue to lead the fight against Biden’s historic assault on state sovereignty. pic.twitter.com/u9AqkkmzYz
— Mark Brnovich (@GeneralBrnovich) September 15, 2021
Several Republican state attorney generals, including Brnovich and Austin Knudsen of Montana threatened legal action immediately after the president’s announcement of the mandate. They announced their plan to review all legal options in order to bring the order to court.
Brnovich said that the administration is following the “progressive notion” that the elites can control how American citizens live their lives, which he argued is “a complete erosion of our individual autonomy.”
“This is an oral progressive idea that if only you get the right smart people, the elites, the pointy head elites, running government agencies and controlling the labors of power, that everything will be great,” he continued. “And we saw this going back to Woodrow Wilson and you talk about FDR, this is the whole progressive notion about having these intellectuals telling us how to live our lives.”
“That’s what they [Biden administration] believe and that’s why all this stuff that we’re seeing whether it’s nationalizing elections, these Green New Deals, these massive tax-and-spend plans, all this stuff is designed to concentrate power in Washington, D.C., and give unelected bureaucrats, whether it’s the EPA or whatever, the power over our everyday lives and it’s a complete erosion of our individual autonomy. But it’s also inconsistent with our Constitution.”
Political commentator Ben Shapiro said that his outlet, which employs over 100 people, is prepared to take legal action against the Biden administration for the mandate during a Friday appearance on Fox News. The Republican National Committee (RNC) also announced their plan to sue the administration.