More than 90 Washington State Patrol troopers, firefighters, healthcare workers, and other state employees have filed a lawsuit in a bid to overturn Governor Jay Inslee’s requirement that they get vaccinated against COVID by October 18 or lose their jobs.
According to the lawsuit, filed earlier this month in Walla Walla County Superior Court, the state and local government employees argue that Inslee’s mandate oversteps his legal authority and violates their rights guaranteed by the Washington constitution.
While Inslee’s draconian mandate — arguably one of the strictest in the nation — allows for medical and religious exemptions from the COVID vaccination, the official e-mails quoted in the lawsuit demonstrate that the governor’s office crafted the religious exemption to be “as narrow as possible.” Those employees who sought to seek the exemptions contend that many of them have been told they could still be fired or reassigned even if their exemptions are approved. In some state agencies, no religious exceptions will be granted at all. According to e-mails from within the Washington State Patrol published by the local media, “there is no accommodation we can provide” for religious exemption requests.
State employees who have previously contracted COVID, and therefore have a natural immunity that evidence suggests is stronger and more durable than immunity produced by the jabs, are still required to roll up their sleeves. The same goes for employees who perform their work via the Internet at home and don’t even go to the office.
The lawsuit lays out seven causes of action against Inslee:
1. The Governor violated the separation of powers. The suit noted, “While the Washington State Constitution grants the Governor certain express powers, the Governor lacks inherent legislative power except as provided in the Constitution or properly delegated by a statute.” In addition to that, the state of emergency in Washington has long passed. Islee declared it in February 29, 2020, and “by axiom, an event lasting over twenty months is not emergent,” per the suit. Further, only legislation and the Board of Health can establish regulations regarding public health.
2. The mandate deprives plaintiffs of life, liberty, or property.
3. The mandate deprives plaintiffs of privacy.
4. The mandate deprives plaintiffs of religious freedoms.
5. The mandate violates plaintiffs’ freedom of speech and assembly.
6. The mandate violates the Washington law against discrimination.
7. The mandate employs excessive and unconscionable penalties and does not allow for lesser available means of ensuring public safety balanced with individual liberty.
The plaintiffs are asking the court to vacate the governor’s mandate as unconstitutional, and/or as being in excess of that office’s statutory authority. In case the court finds that any portion of the mandate is legitimate, the plaintiffs are asking the court to lessen the severity of the penalties and make them more “fair and reasonable.” The plaintiffs also ask to allow for religious exemptions, and exempting from the requirement those with a positive antibody test, as well as those who can fulfill their duties from home.
The leading plaintiffs in the suit are William and Sherra Cleary, both employed by the state. Sherra, who has a high-risk pregnancy, was denied a medical exemption from the mandate on three different occasions and now will be facing termination.
According to an interview that William gave to The Ari Hoffman Show on 570 KVI, the couple have had already lost one baby to heart issues, with the pregnancy ending in a tragic miscarriage. Their new baby, due in December, has similarly been diagnosed with heart tumors. William inquired, “Why would we want to add any more risk, no matter how small, to this pregnancy?”
Yet, Seattle Children’s Hospital and Swedish Medical Center still insist that Sherra get jabbed, even though the data on vaccines’ safety for pregnant women is limited, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). “Thanks” to the tens of millions of jabbed Americans who, de facto, acted as volunteers in the Stage IV vaccine trials, the COVID shots are shown to be associated with numerous severe side effects, including blood and menstrual disorders, myocarditis and pericarditis, and death. Nevertheless, the CDC still recommends moms-to-be go ahead and take them. The Cleary family disagrees.
Per Yahoo News, as of September 19 some 4,800 state employees in Washington have already requested medical or religious exemptions from the mandate.
Those requests amount to nearly eight percent of the 60,000 state workers who fall under Inslee’s 24 Cabinet departments. As of September 6, less than half of all employees were verified as being fully vaccinated, per the report.
The mandate, if enforced, will likely negatively impact employment in the state agencies. The Seattle Times reports that some law-enforcement unions have anticipated “further staffing crises” due to the mandate. Also, numerous state employees have publicly pledged to retire or quit rather than get vaccinated. To that warning, the governor’s spokesperson, Mike Faulk, said the state remains “committed to the current vaccine deadline as a condition of employment.”
The New American has reported last month that at least one thousand Washingtonians rallied against Inslee’s mandate and called for his resignation.
