Tennessee AG to Biden: ‘Public Health Decisions Are Best Left in the Hands of States’

Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery (R) shredded President Biden’s vaccine mandates requiring private companies with 100 or more employees to mandate their workers to be vaccinated against the Wuhan coronavirus or be subject to regular testing. In a letter penned to Biden last Thursday, Slatery argued that federal mandates are an unconstitutional, one-size-fits-all approach and public health decisions should be left up to states and individual citizens.

“First, while I agree with you, Mr. President, that we want to keep Americans safe from COVID-l9, this virus is not currently a ‘grave danger’ at every job site in the nation,” Slatery said in the letter. “Many Tennessee employers have already taken steps to reduce the risks of COVID-l9 exposure. Those steps include social distancing, masking, monitoring exposure, and remote work. But, at least based on The White House's public statements, the ETS would require vaccination or testing regardless of the nature of the risk of COVID- 19 at a given job site and regardless of what an employer has done to reduce the risk.”

Slatery noted that widespread vaccination, natural immunity, and protective measures implemented at job sites has helped alleviate the spread of coronavirus, stating “a blanket vaccinate-or-test mandate is not necessary for every employee or large employer" and "[a] nationwide policy that applies across the board fails to consider the steps employers have already taken to reduce risks and protect their workers." Furthermore, he dissected the constitutionality of Biden’s vaccine mandates, concluding that it should be left up to the states.

“Separately, consideration of the constitutionality of the ETS must also take into account individual citizens' constitutional rights. I do not want to make assumptions about the contours of the proposed ETS, but, at a minimum, the vaccinate-or-test proposal will implicate religious liberty, free speech, and bodily autonomy concerns. We have already heard from Tennesseans expressing serious concerns about infringement of their constitutional rights. I encourage The White House and OSHA to keep those constitutional rights in mind when drafting the ETS' Robust accommodation provisions might alleviate some of those concerns.

Tennessee has worked diligently to respond to the pandemic by balancing the need for public health with the rights of its citizens. I agree that everyone eligible for COVID-l9 vaccination should, in consultation with his or her doctor, get vaccinated. Over half of the Volunteer State's citizens have already received at least one COVID-l9 vaccination shot. Ultimately, however, public health decisions are best left in the hands of States, communities, businesses, and free citizens.”

Last week, several GOP attorneys general came out against Biden’s vaccine mandates. As we reported, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration’s vaccine mandates, stating in the complaint “[t]his case presents circumstances that would have been unthinkable to our Founding Fathers” and “subjecting U.S. citizens to multiple, unprecedented, sweeping, and intrusive mandates is wildly unconstitutional and should not stand.”

Read Slatery's letter to Biden here.