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Tennessee AG Letter To President Biden
Tennessee AG Letter To President Biden
Letter to Biden says public health decisions are better left to states, local communities
Nashville- In a letter to President Joe Biden, Tennessee Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III expresses
serious concerns about the legality of a recently announced nationwide vaccination and testing requirement
for COVID-19.
According to the President’s plan, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) would
mandate all private employers with at least 100 employees to be vaccinated for COVID-19 or produce
weekly negative test results.
While not available in writing yet, public statements from the Biden Administration about the mandate
indicate an unprecedented assertion of emergency regulatory powers by a federal agency.
“I would encourage everyone eligible, in consultation with a doctor, to get a COVID vaccination. It is one
effective way out of this pandemic,” said General Slatery. “However, this vaccine-or-test mandate appears
to be an unprecedented expansion of federal power and fails to consider the steps individuals, employers,
and our state have already made.”
In the letter, General Slatery says the proposal is too broad and likely violates federal law, including both
the Occupational Safety and Health Act and the Constitution.
The letter raises the following specific concerns about the proposed mandate:
• Requires vaccination or testing regardless of the risk of COVID-19 exposure at any given job site
and disregards what an employer and employees have done to reduce the risk.
• Contradicts recent and repeated communication from The White House and OSHA that masking
and other measures are sufficient.
• Ignores that COVID-19 is not a hazard specific to the workplace.
• Could violate the principle that Congress may not delegate its legislative authority to a federal
agency.
• Undermines the federalist structure of our government which gives States—not the federal
government—primary responsibility to protect the health and safety of citizens.
• Fails to consider religious liberty, free speech, and bodily autonomy concerns.
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