Decisions on the two cases differ.
On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court granted the applications for stays against the vaccine-or-test rule from the president’s administration for private businesses with at least 100 employees; but the justices allowed a stricter yet narrower rule for the healthcare industry to take effect nationwide.
The justices ruled that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration lacked the authority to impose a mandate on businesses 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 decision stated. “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.” For those reasons, the OSHA mandate “would significantly expand” the agency’s authority beyond the limits Congress set, the majority wrote.
By contrast, however, they ruled that Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra did have the authority to require all healthcare workers at institutions that receive Medicare and Medicaid funding to get the vaccine unless they had medical or religious exemptions.
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For the justices of the Supreme Court to have wisdom as they deliberate the cases before them.
- For the president and his administration as they interpret law while making policies and implementing programs.
- For U.S. healthcare workers as they face the upheld mandate to be inoculated unless exempted.
- For discernment for leaders in private businesses and industries as they direct staff and employees regarding coronavirus measures.
Sources: Public Policy Law Journal, Fox News, Newsmax
