Published on January 14, 2022 at 12:05 p.m.
In ruling that the Biden administration cannot force big business to enact vaccination mandates, the conservative majority of the U.S. Supreme Court has argued that the coronavirus is not an “occupational hazard.” Don’t worry if they’re wrong, because all members of the Supreme Court are vaccinated, so they don’t have to deal with the risk of coronavirus in their workplace.
The mandate applied to companies with more than 100 employees. It required all employees to be vaccinated or tested weekly. This would have affected more than 82 million workers, or two-thirds of the American workforce. Now, thanks to the Supreme Court, you can still be an anti-vaxxer asshole who hates Fauci.
The Biden administration estimated the rule would save our country from more than 250,000 hospitalizations.
It was a rule devised by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, but the court does not want OSHA to have any authority. They claim that despite factories, meatpacking plants, grocery stores, distribution centers, etc. being super-spreading environments, covid is not an occupational hazard.
Earlier, a three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that OSHA’s rule was “an important step in reducing the transmission of a deadly virus that has killed more than 800,000 people in the United States, brought our healthcare system to its knees and cost hundreds of thousands of workers their jobs. This pandemic is an extreme event and the federal government should do everything it can to protect its citizens.
SCOTUS fears big government is overstepping its bounds, but the Biden administration isn’t forcing people to get vaccinated. If anything, he didn’t go far enough. We need vaccination mandates to travel by plane and train. Hell, there should be a federal mandate for family reunions, maybe just to keep creepy uncles in their attics where they belong.
The majority of the highest court in the land is unaware that when you get COVID, it’s not just yours. It’s not a choice (which they don’t agree with either). This is an unvaccinated pandemic. You have very little control over whether you catch it or not. The court ruling acts as if the government is infringing on people’s right to catch and spread covid. What will they decide against next? Free vaccinations, free N95 masks and free tests?
The court’s conservative majority is also concerned that allowing OSHA to regulate here would expand its authority without congressional approval. But, Section 2 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 states that “Congress declares that its object and policy are to ensure, so far as practicable, all workers in the nation safe and healthy working conditions. [and] ensure to the extent possible that no employee will suffer a decrease in health, functional ability or life expectancy as a result of their work experience. If you catch COVID at work, it’s work experience.
OSHA’s power to regulate here was literally approved by Congress.
So far, I have grasped two things that the majority had to make up to make their decision. The first is that the coronavirus is not an occupational hazard. The second is that OSHA does not have congressional approval.
But, since OSHA has congressional approval to regulate occupational hazards, this decision is bullshit.
The conservative majority on the Supreme Court had to wriggle and squirm to find some easily debunked bullshit to base their opinion on. Then they will base their decisions on Facebook memes.
The Supreme Court allowed the Biden rule to apply to vaccination mandates for hospital workers. It’s a good thing because their other decision against vaccination mandates is really going to send more people to hospitals.
Music note: I listened to U2 while drawing today’s cartoon.
See more award-winning editorial cartoons by Clay Jones at Claytoonz.com.
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