Abbott files petition to vacate vaccine mandate

Governor Greg Abbott on Monday filed a petition in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit challenging the COVID-19 vaccine mandate imposed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

In the petition, the Governor urges the court to vacate OSHA's unlawful mandate and confirm that his Executive Order GA-40 is not preempted.

"This Court should vacate OSHA's Mandate, which 'runs afoul of the statute from which it draws its power and likely, violates the constitutional structure that safeguards our collective liberty,'" reads the petition. "OSHA is trying to deliver on President Biden's empty threat that 'if these governors won't help us beat the pandemic, I'll use my power as President to get them out of the way.' Governor Abbott's Executive Order GA-40 need not yield to President Biden's unconstitutional power grab."

The action follows the US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issuing a stay citing “grave statutory and constitutional issues” with the rule on the Covid-19 vaccine-or-test mandate imposed by the Biden administration and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requiring companies with at least 100 employees to ensure their workers are vaccinated or undergo weekly testing. Violations of the rule, set to start Jan. 4, could include steep fines for each occurrence.

Abbott is now asking the court to vacate OSHA’s mandate and rule his executive order banning vaccine mandates in Texas is not superseded by the federal organization’s rules.

Abbott issued his executive order banning COVID-19 mandates by any Texas entity in October, saying the rule applied to any individual “who objects to such vaccination for any reason of personal conscience, based on a religious belief, or for medical reasons, including prior recovery from COVID-19.”

Should the mandate be allowed to proceed, the rule would apply to 84.2 million workers at 1.9 million private-sector employers, according to OSHA. The administration's various vaccine rules cover 100 million employees, about two-thirds of the U.S. workforce, according to the White House.

The court order freezing the mandate came in response to a joint petition from several businesses, advocacy groups, and the states of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Utah. At least 28 states have joined in other lawsuits against the mandate and the rule is also facing separate legal challenges before other courts.