The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments Friday on the Biden administration’s vaccine-or-test mandate for U.S. employers with 100 or more workers.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said there is no doubt in his mind that if the highest court follows the law, the mandate will be struck down.
Paxton successfully argued against the mandate before the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals prior to the National Federation of Independent Business v. Occupational Safety and Health Administration case being transferred to the 6th Circuit on Dec. 17. The 6th Circuit panel undid the previous ruling, sending it to the Supreme Court.
“It seems to me if you really care about what the law says, there is nothing in the law that allows OSHA to decide this, that they can make this decision between your health individually and whether you have a job,” Paxton said while speaking with Joe Pagliarulo on the Joe Pags Show. “There is nothing that gives them the authority to do it.”
Texas AG Ken Paxton Predicts What SCOTUS Will Do on Mandates pic.twitter.com/Q63EInKiYB
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The Biden administration has argued that OSHA provisions to protect workers from “substances or agents determined to be toxic or physically harmful or from new hazards” is broad enough to include COVID-19 justifying the mandate. On Dec. 30, the White House requested that the Supreme Court uphold the mandate.
“The nation is facing an unprecedented pandemic that is sickening and killing thousands of workers around the country, and any further delay in the implementation of the [rule] will result in unnecessary illness, hospitalizations, and deaths because of workplace exposure to [COVID-19],” Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar wrote in the filing.
Paxton noted that Congress has not given OSHA the authority to apply the rule in such a way.
BIDEN ADMINISTRATION REQUESTS SUPREME COURT TO UPHOLD VACCINE-OR-TEST MANDATE
Pagliarulo asked Paxton if the mandate being upheld could be indicative of the U.S. resembling a monarchy.
“That’s kind of the model we are living under right now,” Paxton said. “The Biden administration isn’t just doing it with [vaccine] mandates — they are doing it with immigration, they are doing it with the Keystone pipeline. The list goes on. They view themselves as the ideal monarchy.”
The vaccine-or-test mandate was set to go into effect this week but was extended to Feb. 9 to accommodate for the legal battles.
The Supreme Court will also hear arguments Friday over a federal vaccine mandate for workers at hospitals that receive government funds.
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If the Supreme Court does not move to strike down the mandate, enforcement would begin Feb. 9. Businesses not in compliance could be fined up to $14,000 per violation.
