{"id":996343,"date":"2021-11-10T21:58:28","date_gmt":"2021-11-11T02:58:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=996343"},"modified":"2021-11-10T21:58:30","modified_gmt":"2021-11-11T02:58:30","slug":"exclusive-kobach-north-dakota-businesses-and-employees-join-the-battle-against-the-osha-vaccine-mandates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/exclusive-kobach-north-dakota-businesses-and-employees-join-the-battle-against-the-osha-vaccine-mandates\/","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive&#8211;Kobach: North Dakota Businesses and Employees Join the Battle Against the OSHA Vaccine Mandates"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fexclusive-kobach-north-dakota-businesses-and-employees-join-the-battle-against-the-osha-vaccine-mandates%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=996343&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/nurse-receives-vaccine-getty-640x335-1.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"subheading\">On Tuesday, a group of North Dakota businesses and their employees <a href=\"https:\/\/www.allianceforfreecitizens.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2021\/11\/DTN-2021-11-10-Petition-for-Stay-file-stamped.pdf\"><span>filed<\/span><\/a> a Petition for Review in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit challenging the legality of President Biden\u2019s use of an OSHA \u201cemergency temporary standard\u201d to force vaccinations on people working at companies with 100 or more employees. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The businesses are DTN Staffing, a company with more than 400 employees in Mandan, North Dakota, which provides nurses to health facilities, and Miller Insulation, a company with nearly 400 employees in Bismarck, North Dakota, which provides commercial, residential, and oil field insulation.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp; <\/span>The North Dakota litigants are represented by lawyers from the Alliance for Free Citizens (where I am general counsel) and the America First Policy Institute.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>The North Dakota businesses\u2019 suit is in addition to suits that have been filed by several state attorneys general.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp; <\/span>A suit filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Friday gained an initial <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/policy\/healthcare\/580403-appeals-court-stays-biden-vaccine-mandate-for-businesses\"><span>reprieve<\/span><\/a> from the Fifth Circuit, which stayed the OSHA standard until further notice.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp; <\/span>That is not surprising, because OSHA\u2019s standard is vulnerable on so many grounds.<\/p>\n<p>Importantly, the North Dakota businesses\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.allianceforfreecitizens.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2021\/11\/DTN-2021-11-10-Petition-for-Stay-file-stamped.pdf\"><span>suit<\/span><\/a> points out that OSHA standard attempts to extend the reach of the Occupational Safety and Health Act beyond the limits of the Article I, section 8, constitutional power to regulate commerce.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp; <\/span>The vaccine mandate oversteps the commerce power for the same reason that Obamacare did:<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp; <\/span>the federal government cannot claim that it is regulating commerce when it is actually regulating people who chose <i>not<\/i> to make a commercial transaction, in this case the subsidized purchase of a vaccine.<\/p>\n<p>As Chief Justice Roberts <a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/supremecourt\/text\/11-393\"><span>wrote<\/span><\/a> for the Supreme Court majority in the Obamacare case, <i>NFIB v. Sebelius<\/i>:<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp; <\/span>\u201cConstruing the Commerce Clause to permit Congress to regulate individuals precisely&nbsp;<i>because<\/i>&nbsp;they are doing nothing would open a new and potentially vast domain to congressional authority. Every day individuals do not do an infinite number of things.\u201d<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp; <\/span>Similarly, neither Congress nor OSHA can compel individuals to take a vaccination.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>Beyond the Commerce Clause argument, which will appear in several cases challenging the OSHA standard, the North Dakota businesses\u2019 suit also brings civil rights <a href=\"https:\/\/www.allianceforfreecitizens.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2021\/11\/DTN-2021-11-10-Petition-for-Stay-file-stamped.pdf\"><span>issues<\/span><\/a> to the table, because some of the petitioners are individual employees asserting claims based in the Bill of Rights.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp; <\/span>One of those claims is the First Amendment right to freely exercise one\u2019s religion.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp; <\/span>Although the OSHA standard allows businesses to permit employees with faith-based objections to avoid the vaccination by testing weekly and wearing a mask continually, that makes it very expensive to practice one\u2019s faith.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp; <\/span>Because the employers are not required to cover the cost of weekly COVID tests, that cost falls on the employee.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp; <\/span>The median cost is a staggering $7,600 a year.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp; <\/span>That\u2019s a virtual tax on one\u2019s religious freedom\u2014and an exorbitant one at that.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s also a well-established right based in the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments for an individual to refuse unwanted medical treatment.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp; <\/span>The right to decline a vaccination falls squarely within that line of precedents.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp; <\/span>And no-one should have to pay thousands of dollars in order to exercise that liberty interest either.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, the North Dakota businesses\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.allianceforfreecitizens.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2021\/11\/DTN-2021-11-10-Petition-for-Stay-file-stamped.pdf\"><span>suit<\/span><\/a> points out just how irrational Biden\u2019s OSHA standard is.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp; <\/span>Under the testing and masking option, only the unvaccinated have to take the weekly tests.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp; <\/span>Consider the case of several of the North Dakota employees, who have already had COVID and therefore possess natural immunity.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp; <\/span>They are highly unlikely ever to get COVID again, but they would be tested anyway; and they would of course test negative.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp; <\/span>But they would be the ones forced to wear a mask in the workplace.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp; <\/span>Meanwhile, the vaccinated employees (who <i>can<\/i> get COVID) are <i>not<\/i> tested and have no recent proof of a negative test, but are presumed to be COVID-free and need not wear a mask.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp; <\/span>It\u2019s complete nonsense.<\/p>\n<p>Because there are cases in several circuits simultaneously challenging the same agency action, federal <a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/uscode\/text\/28\/2112\"><span>law<\/span><\/a> provides that the judicial panel on multidistrict litigation must randomly select a circuit in which the cases will be consolidated.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp; <\/span>That is likely to happen next week.<\/p>\n<p>Hopefully the judiciary will continue to move quickly and will ensure that this OSHA standard never goes into effect.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp; <\/span>Our Constitution depends on it.<\/p>\n<p><i>Kris W. Kobach served as the Secretary of State of Kansas during 2011-2019.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp; <\/span>Prior to that, he was a law professor at the University of Missouri\u2014Kansas City School of Law.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp; <\/span>An expert in immigration law and policy, he was an informal adviser to President Trump.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp; <\/span>He is currently lead counsel representing the North Dakota businesses and employees in the case of <\/i><span class=\"s2\"><i>DTN Staffing v. OSHA<\/i><\/span><i>.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp; <\/span>His website is <\/i><a href=\"http:\/\/www.kriskobach.com\"><span><i>www.kriskobach.com<\/i><\/span><\/a><i>.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Tuesday, a group of North Dakota businesses and their employees filed a Petition for Review in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit challenging the legality of &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":257,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-996343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/996343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/257"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=996343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/996343\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=996343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=996343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=996343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}