The Biden administration announced on Wednesday that it is suspending its rule forcing private employers to vaccinate or COVID-19 test their employees over pending litigation.
The Daily Wire was the first organization to challenge the rule in the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. The court was later chosen via lottery to consolidate and oversee the numerous legal challenges over the rule.
“On November 12, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit granted a motion to stay OSHA’s COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing Emergency Temporary Standard, published on November 5, 2021 (86 Fed. Reg. 61402) (‘ETS’),” the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced on Wednesday morning. “The court ordered that OSHA ‘take no steps to implement or enforce’ the ETS ‘until further court order.’ While OSHA remains confident in its authority to protect workers in emergencies, OSHA has suspended activities related to the implementation and enforcement of the ETS pending future developments in the litigation.”
The Daily Wire has launched a petition for Americans to sign and show support for The Daily Wire in its legal battle against the Biden administration. The petition hit over half a million signatures over the weekend and continues to grow.
The Dhillon Law Group and Alliance Defending Freedom are representing The Daily Wire in its suit. They filed the legal challenge against the Biden administration on November 4, hours after OSHA published roughly 500-pages worth of regulations and standards explaining the rule.
The rule mandated all companies with 100 employees or more require their workers to either be vaccinated or submit to regular COVID-19 testing. The order penalized companies up to about $14,000 for every serious violation, and up to about $140,000 for a willful violation.
“The Daily Wire will not comply with President Biden’s tyrannical vaccine mandate, and we are suing the Biden Administration to put a stop to their gross overreach,” Daily Wire Co-Founder and Co-CEO Jeremy Boreing said at the time. “President Biden, the federal government, social media, and the establishment media have conspired to rob Americans of their freedoms in the name of public health. They have broken faith with the American people through conflicting messaging, false information, and by suppressing data and perspectives with which they disagree.”
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit stayed Biden’s order on November 6 after receiving numerous petitions that “give cause to believe there are grave statutory and constitutional issues with the Mandate,” according to the court.
Despite the federal court’s order, the White House has continued to pressure companies to prepare for the mandate. White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre last week urged businesses to begin complying with the order despite the pending court battle.
“People should not wait,” Jean Pierre said. “We say: Do not wait to take actions that will keep your workplace safe. It is important and critical to do, and waiting to get more people vaccinated will lead to more outbreaks and sickness.”