Lankford Asks Court to Stand Against Presidential Overreach

WASHINGTON, DC – Senator James Lankford (R-OK), Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), and 44 Republican Members of Congress submitted an amicus brief to the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Feds for Medical Freedom v. Biden. Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Mike Braun (R-IN), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Steve Daines (R-MT), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), John Hoeven (R-ND), Jim Inhofe (R-OK), Ben Sasse (R-NE), Rick Scott (R-FL), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), and John Thune (R-SD) joined the amicus brief, along with 34 members of the House of Representatives.

In the brief, the members assert: “In this case, the President of the United States claims the awesome—and heretofore unasserted—power to unilaterally compel a broad swath of American workers to undergo a medical procedure. No federal statute confers this claimed authority on the President. To the contrary, Congress has denied it.”

“However much he may want to be, President Biden and any US president is not a king or a dictator with absolute power; that’s how they do things in places like China, Russia, and North Korea, not in the US,” said Lankford. “In pushing his COVID-19 vaccine mandates, allowing basically zero religious accommodations to military members, and willfully turning a blind eye to natural immunity rates, the Biden Administration is teetering on China-like ‘commands’ to Americans and Oklahomans, and we in Congress are demanding the courts allow decisions that affect the nation in this way to be made by Congress, not forced by the President, which is an absolute affront to the Constitution.”

“The American people have had enough of Biden’s unconstitutional mandates that trample on our rights. That’s why we’re sending a clear message to everyone suffering under Biden—from our military service members, to federal employees, to nurses and hospital staff: the days of these tyrannical mandates are numbered,” said Cruz. 

This week, Lankford introduced the Natural Immunity Transparency Act, which requires the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to provide critical data to Congress on the efficacy of natural immunity from COVID-19. Lankford has taken steps to stop or block every part of Biden’s vaccine mandate and has consistently raised the issue that the Administration is ignoring those with natural immunity and forcing them to get vaccinated for his agenda.

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