#31: Decisions Arrive from the Supreme Court on Biden Vaccine Mandates
The OSHA mandate is blocked, with the CMS mandate is allowed to stand.
Hello All,
Thursday was a very important day for the fate of two federal vaccine mandates - and after decisions from the Supreme Court, one falls and one stands.
First, there was Biden’s vaccine-or-test mandate for large employers, being imposed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) . This was the larger of the two, potentially affecting millions of workers across the country. SCOTUS blocked the OSHA mandate in 6-3 decision (with 6 conservative Justices in the majority, and 3 liberal Justices in dissent). You can find the opinions here.
The lack of agency authority to issue such a wide-reaching, unprecedented public health order was a major issue for conservative justices. As Fox News summarized shortly after news broke:
The Court ruled that OSHA lacked the authority to impose such a mandate because the law that created OSHA "empowers the Secretary to set workplace safety standards, not broad public health measures."
"Although COVID-19 is a risk that occurs in many workplaces, it is not an occupational hazard in most," the Court ruled. "COVID–19 can and does spread at home, in schools, during sporting events, and everywhere else that people gather. That kind of universal risk is no different from the day-to-day dangers that all face from crime, air pollution, or any number of communicable diseases."
Civil liberties attorney Jenin Younes summarized the OSHA ruling in a three part thread:
In contrast, the second mandate (known as the CMS mandate for Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) was allowed by SCOTUS. As such, under the authority of the Secretary of Health and Human Services, healthcare workers at institutions that receive Medicare and Medicaid funding will be required to be vaccinated. This decision went 5-4, with Justices Roberts and Kavanaugh joining the three liberal Justices in the majority.
Readers of this blog know that I vehemently oppose vaccine mandates - so while the OSHA mandate being blocked is great news, it’s tough to celebrate without a complete and total victory over the CMS mandate, too. I fear the impacts of the ruling on the healthcare industry, and others agreed. Phil Kerpen noted the loss of staffed hospital beds over the last year (as well as the last 30 days!):
Dr. Jay Bhattacharya echoed similar concerns:
As I mentioned in a previous post, these mandates never should’ve gotten this far. The Supreme Court was asked to judge the constitutionality of Biden’s mandates - of course, from a legal perspective as the Court is equipped to. What are the limits of federal power? What defines an emergency, and what types of sweeping administrative rules can be rolled out during an emergency? Today, thanks to the conservative Justices, limits were kept in place on those powers.
At the end of the day, though, the arguments for vaccine mandates themselves fall apart at the data and science level - we didn’t need to have the legal battle. Vaccines do not halt transmission - this was true with prior variants, and especially true with Omicron. We’ve reached peak madness in the healthcare industry when vaccinated workers who are POSITIVE for COVID-19 are allowed to keep working (and potentially spreading infection), while unvaccinated workers are fired - regardless of negative tests and/or natural immunity. You can read that sentence a hundred times over, and the logic will never make sense.
Like I said, it’s tough to celebrate on the grand scale when doctors and nurses are still subject to such a mandate that runs against both data and common sense… not to mention conscience. Any of us that rely on them in our moments of medical need could end up feeling the strain of this ruling.
And of course - for those of us in blue states, in particular - nothing about the SCOTUS rulings will stop an individual state from taking similar action with vaccine mandates. I worry about this in Illinois - though the County has already beat them to the punch on this front. In addition, if Congress were to take definitive action and pass a law requiring it, that too would change things (though this does not seem likely in the current climate… knock on wood).
As I told my wife, at least we have options now. If our home state decides to blaze ahead with mandates, there will be others states that choose not to - and we can make decisions without the weight of the OSHA mandate following us to greener pastures. We’ll take things one step at a time, with our eyes open - and continue to hope for the best.
And in the meantime, I’ll continue to share anything meaningful along the way with all of you. 31 posts in for the Dude with Decency blog… and lots of work still to be done.
Thanks for reading! Have a nice weekend.
-G