Arizona Requests Restraining Order to Stop Biden from Enforcing COVID-19 Mandates

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich filed an amended complaint on Friday in an effort to stop the Biden administration from enforcing a COVID-19 vaccine requirement as a lawsuit filed last month moves forward.

In a statement released Friday, the office claims they are asking the US District Court in Arizona to grant a temporary restraining order, as a critical step to protecting the millions of public university employees, federal employees, and contractors who are being forced to get their first round of the COVID-19 vaccine or be fired.

"Once a vaccine has been administered, it can never be undone," Attorney General Mark Brnovich said in a statement announcing the move. "The COVID-19 vaccine mandate is one of the greatest infringements upon individual liberty, federalism, and the separation of powers by any administration in our country’s history."

Brnovich called the vaccine mandates unconstitutional and illegal, adding claims against the federal contractor and federal employee requirements.

On September 9, US President Joe Biden announced several initiatives regarding COVID-19 vaccine mandates targeting private businesses with more than 100 employees, federal employees, and all healthcare providers as a condition of employment — resulting in many unvaccinated federal and contractor employees resigning.

General Brnovich was reportedly the first attorney general to file a lawsuit against this policy in September 2021.

In the amended complaint, Brnovich argues that Biden does not have the legal authority to inflict such COVID-19 vaccine mandates that violate the constitutional rights of federal employees, contractors, and subcontractors. It also alleges that the mandates violate individuals’ statutory right to refuse vaccines available under Emergency Use Authorizations (EUA) from the FDA.

Brnovich also made clear in the original complaint that the mandates violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution by favoring migrants who are not required to get the vaccine after crossing into the US illegally.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) reported that they only offered COVID-19 vaccines to all individuals detained in its detention centers, but according to ICE’s policy, it
“cannot force individuals in detentions to be vaccinated.”

Today’s complaint expands immigration-related claims, including issues of violating federal statutes regarding asylum claims and parole status.