October 12, 2021: Jen Psaki, "Well, we know that federal law overrides state law. I would note that earlier, when we put out our guidance on the President’s announcement about mandates several weeks ago, he made clear — it made clear that, again, as I said earlier, requirements are promulgated pursuant to federal law and supersede any contrary state or local law or ordinance."
November 5, 2021: Karine Jean-Pierre, "The Department of Labor has a responsibility to keep workers safe and the legal authority to do so,” she added. “We believe we have the authority to do this, the Department of Labor." (Emphasis Mine)
November 5, 2011: Marty Walsh, "I’m not gonna really respond to hypotheticals. If that’s the route that the attorney general in Missouri or anyone takes, that’s the route they’re going to take, but the federal government has every right, every right, to put emergency temporary standards out to private businesses in the country," (Emphasis Mine)
These are quotes from Joe Biden's Administration on the Vaccine Mandate that OSHA, under his direct knowledge, has put into place.
They are interesting quotes, however, as they seem to claim a "right" that the Federal Government is not enumerated by the Constitution. We know that they have the original powers (or rights) of Levy (Regulation of International Trade), War, and the Regulation of Interstate Commerce, but nowhere in the constitution is the Federal Government enumerated the power to force medicate people. It is also not enumerated directly in any of the Amendments that have come after it.
In fact, it was precisely this point that was argued by President Bill Clinton's Justice Department (1993-1996) against challenges from Republicans when he ended the forced treatment of the mentally ill which threw them all out of their group homes and institutions and onto the streets under the guise that he was taking them out of abusive situations and that his new "Cares Act" (Universal Healthcare coverage) would give them the option to seek treatment of their own choosing.
So let me get this straight, you cannot forcibly treat a mentally ill paranoid-schizophrenic who is a danger in public to both themselves and to others, but you can forcibly medicate an unvaccinated worker, under threat of loss of livelihood, against a disease that can still be spread regardless of one's vaccination status?
Look, the fact that it "gets harder to spread it" when you are vaccinated is not the same as the Polio Vaccine in which it is IMPOSSIBLE to get it or to spread it once you have been vaccinated. This is just another example of people's, "we have to do SOMETHING." When the reality is that we do not.
In fact, we do not know that "doing something" is the best thing that we can do in the long run. There is so much that we do not know. AND I AM FULLY VACCINATED AND MADE THAT CHOICE!
I chose to wager the long term effects against my current co-morbidities, but that was my choice. I can still catch it, I can still spread it, and if I catch it, I still have to quarantine because unlike other vaccines, this one does not prevent me from giving it to someone else.
That little catch right there is why there is such push back. It's not like we're talking about a 100% effective AND safe vaccine. It is mostly safe, particularly once the initial incubation period is over, but like many new medications, we will not know the full effects for decades to come.
These jokes about, "if you were injured by a COVID vaccine you deserve compensation," are only funny because we can all imagine seeing them in 20 years if something in these vaccines turns out to cause cancer or some other form of medical issues.
WE JUST DON'T KNOW.
But, back to the point at hand.
The issue is that the current Administration is taking unprecedented action (even the 1918 pandemic did not have forced vaccinations) and is trying to claim that it has the Constitutional authority to do so. Yet it does not. Its claim is reliant, both loosely and largely, on precedent, and the over-stretching of emergency authority action powers granted by congress to attempt to make it so.
I am sorry to those who disagree, but there is a chiasmic difference between going to work in a plant with nuclear material out which is irradiating you and working in a cubicle more than six feet away from someone who has not been vaccinated and who is wearing a mask. The first poses a, "grave danger from exposure to substances or agents determined to be toxic or physically harmful," the second does not. Yet that is the clause that the Biden Administration is hanging its entire argument on for the legality of their OSHA mandate.
It is also why so many who are avid Supreme Court watchers are starting to take bets on if this will be YET ANOTHER unanimous smack down of the Biden Administration and its continued Federal overreach.
The Tenth Amendment makes it clear, any issue not specifically given to the Federal Government by the constitution itself OR an Amendment thereof (which makes it part of the Constitution), is reserved for the states.
This means that while the Federal Government could say that you may not conduct business in a state within which you do not reside unless you are vaccinated (actual interstate commerce), they cannot do anything if you are residing in your state and doing business over zoom (because legally that business takes place in the state of residence of the business).
So that means that vaccine mandates are, as the eleven governors suing the Biden Administration claim, a State issue, and should be ruled in line with the each State's individual State Constitution.
So, if you want Vaccine Mandates move to New York or California. If you do not, move to Texas, Florida, Missouri, or one of the other eleven states. That is how State Sovereignty works, which is the foundation upon which our Federal System is built.
This, more than anything, is why I am anticipating the mandate being struck down quickly by the big court once the 5th Circuit is done packaging up the documents and sending them over.
It should also be noted, that this is the 5th Circuit court that issued the injunction against the mandate. The single most liberal court in the entire country boasting the largest number of overturned rulings ever. This was not some Trump friendly/Conservative Bastion court that was picking a fight with Biden, this was a court that would likely have loved to find a way to rule in his favor but realized that it could not so it passed the case on to the SCOTUS down greased tracks with an injunction to power it and make sure it gets taken up ASAP.
So, stay tuned, keep watching, and realize that, in all likelihood, the mandate will be struck down. The bigger question is whether it is 7-2 or 9-0. That seems to be the only question left for the high court.
MORE READING
Comments