By Dan McCaleb and Casey Harper | The Center Square
The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday blocked the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate on private sector businesses, though it allowed a separate mandate to stand for certain health care workers.
The private sector ruling came on a 6-3 vote, with the court’s three liberal justices all siding with the Biden administration’s argument that the mandates are legal, and its majority conservative wing saying only Congress has the authority to give the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) the power to implement such a widespread federal mandate.
Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court
“The question before us is not how to respond to the pandemic, but who holds the power to do so. The answer is clear: Under the law as it stands today, that power rests with the States and Congress, not OSHA,” justices wrote in the majority opinion.
OSHA implemented the private sector mandate, which was set to affect 84 million workers across the country. If the Supreme Court upheld the mandate, businesses with 100 or more employees would have been required to check the vaccine status of all of their workers. Those who were not fully vaccinated would have faced weekly COVID-19 tests. Companies who violated the mandate faced stiff fines.
In December, the U.S. Senate voted to rescind Biden’s vaccine mandate, with two Democrats joining all Republicans in the vote. The U.S. House has not taken a vote on the matter.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, who led 27 states in their lawsuit against the Biden administration, celebrated the ruling.
“Americans have lost too much to this disease already – all of us want this pandemic to end – but it is critical that we do not lose our Constitution, too,” Yost said. “Today’s ruling protects our individual rights and states’ rights to pursue the solutions that work best for their citizens.”
The court heard oral arguments Friday from administration attorneys and attorneys representing states and individuals challenging the constitutional authority of the president to issue such mandates.
“Today’s ruling represents a monumental victory for all Americans, and a reminder that the Biden Administration and the federal government cannot rule by executive fiat,” said Patrick Hughes, president and co-founder of the Liberty Justice Center. “The Supreme Court saw this mandate for what it really is: An attempt to bypass Congress and the will of the American people.”
Liberty Justice Center and the New Orleans-based Pelican Institute for Public Policy filed suit against the Biden administration on behalf of Louisiana grocery store owner Brandon Trosclair, who employs nearly 500 people across 16 grocery stores in Louisiana and Mississippi.
“The Supreme Court’s decision to halt the illegal vaccine mandate is a win for American workers and business owners in every corner of the country,” Sarah Harbison, general counsel at the Pelican Institute, said. “Business owners like Brandon Trosclair fought and beat the Biden Administration on behalf of their team members and communities to keep the government out of individuals’ private health care decisions.”
In a separate ruling, the Supreme Court upheld a Biden vaccine mandate for most health-care workers at providers that receive Medicaid and Medicare dollars.
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh joined the liberal wing in upholding the health-care mandate in a 5-4 decision.
This story is developing and will be updated.
Please follow up with an inquiry to the State of Vermont Administration office or Human Resources and find out if they will continue mandating State employees to be jabbed or repeatedly tested. State employees have either quit or being fired due to mandating the vax/testing/masking. They also spent several months requiring masks (that don’t work) under threat of being fired for insubordination.
Ms. Casey makes a significant point. The SCOTUS left intact the provision for federally funded organizations to assert this mandate. That includes State government employees. However, in knocking down the over-riding ‘national mandate’ affecting all private and public employees, the SCOTUS reinforces the constitutional concept of Federalism that allows individual States to make these decisions, not the Federal government. In that regard, everyone should watch the Epoch Times interview with Robert Henneke, one of the chief litigators in the various suits that the SCOTUS considered.
https://www.theepochtimes.com/robert-henneke-accurately-predicts-scotus-decision-on-osha-vaccine-mandate-explains-scotus-thinking_4212242.html
In the interview, Mr. Henneke emphasizes the original context of Federalism by the Founders and points out that when States have the right to set their own policies, citizens have the right to choose those States in which they live. In any case, discrimination by race, sex, ethnicity, etc. is not legal. And the same concept applies to government employment. But we have Employment-At-Will provisions. If you don’t like the otherwise lawful way your employer treats you, work somewhere else. If you don’t like the way your State treats you, live somewhere else.
Let the ‘free market’ determine the policies that best meet the needs of ‘we the people’ as the Founders intended.
America is being further and further divided by Democrats that have become extremists and voters that are so dumbed down that they don’t see they are voting for the destruction of our nation- one thing at a time.
Medical care is going down the drain, people don’t even want to go to the hospital anymore.
I hope the Left has the stomach to deal with what they are creating and what this will be leaving for their kids to deal with.
We now have such little confidence in this entire government that we are removing our consent wherever we can.
Todays Supreme Court decision is fueling the division and what will ultimately the balkanization of this country.
NH has such a growing desire to no longer be controlled by this tyrannical government that we will vote to leave the Union.
https://granitegrok.com/mg_manchester/2022/01/nh-legislation-would-let-voters-decide-whether-we-should-continue-to-be-ruled-by-the-us
So …..I am confused. Mandating the vaccine is a Right of the States but because the Federal Government is involved with hospitals via Medicaid and Medicare that makes it a federal mandate for hospitals for healthcare workers and The Supreme Court thinks that is constitutional? So then when States begin to mandate a vaccine or any other hare-brain idea for the sake of public health and that does to the Court we know they approve 5 to 4? Does this mean that any organization or entity the federal government gives money to then is controlled by the Federal Government which gets to call the shots? And! What can’t they mandate if they think mandating an experimental vaccine, which obviously does not work but can kill a percentage of those who take it is constitutional?
Once obama dumb-ed down the SC with the 2 low IQ picks Kagen and the Wide
Latina, sotomayor, the court became a friend of the government not the people.
All this will do is exasperate the problems at hospitals who now have personnel
who are fully vaxed with covid still working because of staffing shortages. Now those
who choose NOT to comply with illegal mandates will be fired causing more fodder for
government sponsored fear propaganda…
Glad to hear the private company was struck down but the hospital one cause more
deaths by a greater loss of health care..
The court has just proven it’s self the joke thinking Americans know it is.
You are correct. They are an excellent example of the dangerous downside of “Affirmative Action”.
The Supreme Court dumps on Joe Biden’s Covid mandate today. This has been another disastrous week for Biden and its only Thursday. Take a look:
1. On Tuesday Biden publicly lit himself of fire with his ham handed speech to promote the so called Voting Rights Act by declaring that anyone who didn’t vote for the bill was a racist. The speech was so bad and offensive that even leading Democrats and the left wing media panned it. South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, a Black man, said he was offended by the speech.
2. On Wednesday, the Quinnipiac Poll announced that Biden’s approval rating had dropped to an unbelievable 33%. While 57% of Independents disapproved of his performance and his own Democrat’s approval dropped 12 points from 87% to 75%.
3. Wednesday, It was announced that the US rate of inflation hit a 40 year high of 7% and Biden has no plan to deal with it and American families are hard hit.
4. Wednesday, talk of Hillary Clinton be a Presidential candidate in 2024 because of Biden’s and Kamala’s Harris’ terrible performance and poll numbers.
5. Thursday – today, Democrat Senator Krysten Sinema made a speech on the Senate floor blowing up Biden’s effort to over turn the filibuster by saying she would not vote for such a move. This essentially killed any real hope that he had for passing the Voting Rights Act, Build, Back, Better or any other far left effort.
6. Also today Thursday, the US Supreme Court quashed a big part of Biden’s Covid mandates.
So what will Friday bring for President Biden who screamed at America that he will be no longer be quiet.
“Supreme Court Halts Biden COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate for Businesses”
Even so the court got it wrong as it will allow medical staff to receive the jab, which is un Constitutional.
All powers not granted to the federal government is reserved to the several states.