WASHINGTON (Fwrd Axis) — The Supreme Court on Thursday blocked one of two vaccine mandates by the Biden administration, disallowing the vaccine-or-test requirements for large private companies with over 100 workers, but allowed a vaccine mandate to stand for medical professionals.
“Although Congress has indisputably given OSHA the power to regulate occupational dangers, it has not given that agency the power to regulate public health more broadly,” the court wrote. “Requiring the vaccination of 84 million Americans, selected simply because they work for employers with more than 100 employees, certainly falls in the latter category.”
Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan voted to keep both mandates intact and wrote the court is dangering the public by possibly letting the virus continue to spread.
As disease and death continue to mount, this Court tells the agency that it cannot respond in the most effective way possible. Without legal basis, the Court usurps a decision that rightfully belongs to others. It undercuts the capacity of the responsible federal officials, acting well within the scope of their authority, to protect American workers from grave danger,” they wrote.
The mandate required that workers at businesses with 100 or more employees get vaccinated or submit a negative Covid test weekly.
The move capped off a bad day for President Joe Biden, who expressed doubt about his two voting rights bill passing in the Senate.
Biden put out a statement, calling on states and businesses to step up and voluntarily put vaccination requirements in place to protect workers.
“The Court has ruled that my administration cannot use the authority granted to it by Congress to require this measure, but that does not stop me from using my voice as President to advocate for employers to do the right thing to protect Americans’ health and economy,” Biden said.
