By Charles Owens, Bluefield Daily Telegraph
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey is promising a legal challenge to President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate for millions of working Americans.
Morrisey, a Republican, issued a statement calling Biden’s move a “historic overreach,” adding that his office has already been in close contact with other attorneys general offices about how the states will be fighting back against Biden’s plan. Biden announced last week nearly 100 million working Americans will be required to take the vaccine or seek an exemption for weekly testing.
“There should be no reason for hesitation in passing a ban on vaccine mandates or passport requirements or, at a minimum, requiring religious or medical exemptions in such requirements,” Morrisey said. “President Biden has shown us the pathway of what not to do. We need to encourage and suggest, but not mandate, our way to public health. I will be in litigation against the Biden Administration very soon to protect West Virginians from this historic overreach.”
Gov. Jim Justice, also a Republican, said last week that he too was opposed to Biden’s vaccine mandate.
Morrisey’s office issued a 21-page letter expressing concerns that vaccine mandates or vaccine passports instituted by a private employer may violate federal and state anti-discrimination laws, especially if exceptions for religious and disability-based objections are not provided for…
