Supreme Court Ruling: CSC Community Reacts
Edward Seglias and Michael McKenna commented on the Supreme Court’s ruling blocking the federal vaccine mandate for large employers. Mike shared, “On a personal level, I am disappointed. Everyone needs to be vaccinated. On a legal level, I agree.”
Ed Seglias discussed the powers to enforce a vaccine mandate for employers under the Constitution:
I have read the Fifth Circuit’s opinion, the Sixth Circuit’s opinion and now the Supreme Court’s opinion on the OSHA vaccine mandate. And as Justice Gorsuch correctly asked, ‘Who decides?’ Who decides which employers must force their employees to be vaccinated or tested on a regularly basis? The federal government? If so, based on what limited power? Or is it state and local governments, who hold all power except that which is specifically reserved to the federal government under the Constitution? In fact, as we already know, employers have that power already. So the primary issue is not what public policies should or could be implemented to combat COVID-19, but who should decide what those policies will be. One thing is clear from my review of the opinions, OSHA is not the right agency to mandate public health policy because the mandate it sought to impose far exceeded its statutory authority to regulate work place safety.
Under the Constitution, and as discussed by both the Fifth Circuit and the Supreme Court, the states primarily are empowered to make such public health policies, not the federal government. Further, most employers I know are having a hard enough time staffing their projects or shops and the OSHA mandate created just another challenge that had additional consequences. So my view of the matter is that the Supreme Court reached not only the right conclusion, but the predicable one. Cities and states properly will decide the issue.
In a major ruling last week, the United States Supreme Court blocked a Biden administration vaccine mandate for large employers. As reported in the New York Times and elsewhere, the ruling did allow a more limited mandate “requiring health care workers at facilities receiving federal money to be vaccinated.”
According to the Times article by Adam Liptak, “The vote in the employer mandate case was 6 to 3, with the liberal justices in dissent. The vote in the health care case was 5 to 4, with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh joining the liberal justices to form a majority.”
Third Thursday asked various friends of Construction Super Conference for their reactions to the ruling. Sentiments ranged from positive to negative to neutral. The comments are relayed here in alphabetical order.
