State of Florida v. Occupational Safety and Health Administration
Consolidated into: In re: OSHA Rule on COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing
Description: The Biden administration issued a mandate via the Occupational Safety and Health Administration that requires all private employers of 100 or more employees to force unvaccinated employees to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, be subject to weekly testing and masking requirements, or lose their job.
6th Circuit to decide all vaccine mandate lawsuits
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit will decide all qualified lawsuits challenging the Biden administration’s private employer vaccine mandate issued via the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, as determined by a random lottery required by federal law that the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation held Tuesday. ADF attorneys currently represent clients challenging the mandate in the 6th, 8th, and 11th circuits.
The U.S. Department of Justice requested that all of the qualified cases nationwide filed in various federal appellate courts, including four cases in which ADF attorneys represent clients, be consolidated at one circuit. The official process is to choose the circuit via random lottery attended by witnesses, and the 6th Circuit was chosen in this lottery. Federal law requires the lottery upon request when two or more petitions for review are filed in multiple circuit courts on the same legal matter.
“The Biden administration’s decision to mandate vaccines through an OSHA emergency rule is unlawful and compels employers like our clients to intrude on their employees’ personal health decisions,” said ADF Senior Counsel Ryan Bangert. “We are pleased to have two pivotal cases in the 6th Circuit in addition to our cases in other circuits, and we look forward to continuing our litigation to ensure that no private employer is compelled to become an agent of the government for the purpose of forcing their employees into a medical procedure.”
ADF attorneys represent clients in The Daily Wire v. Occupational Safety and Health Administration and The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary v. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, both filed in the 6th Circuit; State of Missouri v. Biden, filed in the 8th Circuit; and State of Florida v. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, filed in the 11th Circuit.
Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.
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ABOUT Ryan Bangert
Ryan Bangert serves as senior vice president for strategic initiatives and special counsel to the president at Alliance Defending Freedom. He oversees ADF's regulatory practice, government relations, and corporate engagement teams. He also advises executive leadership with strategic initiatives and appears as counsel for ADF clients. Before joining ADF, Bangert served as deputy for legal counsel and deputy first assistant attorney general in the office of the Texas attorney general. In those roles, he oversaw the state’s Special Litigation Unit, which handled critical litigation against the federal government, and oversaw multiple divisions within the office. Bangert also served as deputy for civil litigation for Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley, overseeing the state’s civil litigation portfolio and over 200 attorneys and staff. Prior to his government service, Bangert was a litigation partner at Baker Botts L.L.P. He earned his B.A. from Oral Roberts University, and his J.D. from Southern Methodist University, where he graduated first in his class. He participated in the Blackstone Legal Fellowship program in 2002. Following law school, he clerked for Judge Patrick Higginbotham on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit. Bangert is an active member of the Texas Bar and is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court and various federal trial courts and courts of appeal.