Republican officials in Alabama and Florida are moving to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci accountable under state law for his COVID-19 record, arguing that Joe Biden's blanket pardon shields him only from federal charges, not from the states whose residents suffered the consequences.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville, the frontrunner in Alabama's governor's race, told Fox News Digital that he plans to pursue Fauci at the state level once he takes office. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier confirmed his office is already investigating whether the former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director violated Florida law during the pandemic. Both men pointed to the same trigger: Fauci's decision to invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination 111 times during a Senate hearing earlier in the week.
The constitutional argument is straightforward. Presidential pardons, under Article II, cover "offenses against the United States", federal crimes. They do not reach state criminal statutes or civil liability. That gap is exactly what Tuberville and Uthmeier say they intend to exploit.
Tuberville, the former college football coach who currently represents Alabama in the U.S. Senate, did not hold back. He is favored to succeed term-limited Republican Gov. Kay Ivey in November, and he made clear that holding Fauci accountable would be a priority from day one.
"Anthony Fauci is responsible for the deaths of millions of Americans and tens of thousands of Alabamians. The 'pardon' signed by Joe Biden's autopen doesn't apply to state-level crimes. When I'm governor of Alabama, I will look into ways we can hold Fauci accountable for all of the Alabamians who died under his watch."
Tuberville told Fox Business that he had regularly heard from the 85-year-old immunologist during the pandemic through his work on the Senate HELP Committee, and that he now believes Fauci "lied... and knew he was lying," a conclusion Tuberville said was reinforced by revelations in Fauci's recently exposed diary entries.
Speaking to Newsmax from the Capitol on the day of the hearing, Tuberville said Fauci "should be locked up before he leaves this building today." He also urged Alabamians to pursue civil claims against Fauci directly, citing what he described as 20,000 to 30,000 deaths in the state attributable to Fauci's pandemic management.
Tuberville framed the coming legal fight in blunt terms:
"He's going to court every day of his life for the rest of his life. And he's going to have to look these people in the face, these families, because the pardon does not cover state government."
Fox News Digital reached out to Gov. Ivey's office to ask whether she would pursue similar action during her remaining months in office. No response was noted.
Florida's investigation is already underway. AG Uthmeier confirmed to Fox News Digital that "any and all potential violations of Florida law" are on the table. His press secretary, Jae Williams, laid out the scope in a formal statement:
"Our inquiry will focus on what Fauci knew, when he knew it, and how he misled the American people. We will examine the physical and monetary harms to Floridians that may have resulted from his deceptions and determine whether his conduct exposes him to liability under state law."
No specific Florida statutes were named in the announcement, and no formal charges have been filed. But the language, "deceptions," "physical and monetary harms," "liability under state law", signals that Uthmeier's office is examining both criminal and civil exposure. The Florida AG's investigation follows directly from Fauci's refusal to answer questions under oath before the Senate.
Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri argued during the hearing that Biden's blanket pardon had already eliminated Fauci's federal criminal exposure for covered conduct, which, Hawley contended, undercut any Fifth Amendment basis for refusing to answer. If the pardon wiped away federal jeopardy, the reasoning goes, Fauci could not invoke the right against self-incrimination on those grounds. He invoked it 111 times anyway.
Florida Lt. Gov. Jay Collins, a disabled veteran who is running to succeed Gov. Ron DeSantis, backed Uthmeier's probe in an interview with Fox News Digital. Collins, a retired amputee veteran, described the stakes in personal terms.
"I had to make a choice of getting my prosthetic care and having a leg to walk on versus taking an immunization that I didn't want or believe in."
Collins said the Veterans Affairs system had required a COVID-19 shot for access to care, a mandate that, for him, meant choosing between a vaccination he opposed and the prosthetic services he needed. He tied that experience to the broader question of accountability.
"There has to be accountability," Collins said, "between families getting threatened and our kids not being able to potentially go to school because of the risks coming from Fauci." He credited DeSantis with resisting federal pressure during the pandemic, saying the governor "became America's governor" and was "the greatest governor in our state's history, largely because of what he did in COVID."
DeSantis himself responded to revelations about Fauci's conduct, including diary entries in which Fauci reportedly called DeSantis a "jerk", by calling Fauci "the most destructive bureaucrat in the history of the United States of America." His office directed Fox News Digital to those comments when asked for a response.
The state-level efforts come on top of mounting pressure in Congress. Sen. Rand Paul has moved to fast-track a contempt vote against Fauci before the Senate recess, and Rep. James Comer warned Fauci ahead of the hearing that Biden's pardon would not protect him if he lied to the Senate. Fauci chose not to answer at all, 111 times over.
California Republican gubernatorial nominee Steve Hilton joined the pile-on from the West Coast. "What an absolute disgrace, when will there be any accountability for this guy," Hilton said in a statement. On Facebook, he announced plans for a "COVID Accountability Commission" if elected governor of California, a state whose leadership, he argued, complied fully with Fauci's pandemic prescriptions and inflicted enormous harm in the process.
Fox News Digital reached out to Fauci through his counsel for comment. No response was noted.
The legal questions ahead are real. No specific state statutes have been identified publicly. No charges have been filed. Whether state prosecutors can build viable cases against a former federal official for conduct carried out through a federal agency remains untested in any court. Tuberville's death toll figures, 20,000 to 30,000 in Alabama alone, are his own claim, not independently verified.
But the political direction is unmistakable. Biden's pardon was supposed to close the book on Fauci's legal exposure. Instead, it may have opened a new chapter, one written in state capitals, not Washington, by officials who answer to voters still living with the consequences of pandemic-era policy.
A blanket pardon can cover federal crimes. It cannot cover the memory of what happened, or the voters who refuse to forget.
