The previously suspended OSHA rule requires companies with 100 or more employees to impose worker vaccine mandates.
QUICK FACTS:
- On Nov. 5, the Biden administration issued the controversial order requiring all businesses with 100 or more employees to institute vaccine-or-test mandates.
- Legal challenges immediately followed in courts around the country. On Nov. 6, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay, thereby suspending the order pending litigation.
- The cases were then consolidated and sent to the 6th Circuit, which lifted the stay on Dec. 17.
- Challengers now petition the Supreme Court to re-suspend the Biden order until its legality is determined.
THE BIDEN ORDER’S LEGALITY:
- Whether the Biden order, which comes through the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), is legal or not is a multi-faceted question.
- During full litigation, the first question is whether the federal government has the authority to impose these kinds of requirements on private employers. This splits into two parts: whether Congress has this authority and, if so, whether Congress has delegated the authority to OSHA. If the answer to either is “no,” then the Biden order is unlawful.
- From there, the next question is whether or not the order unconstitutionally infringes upon protected rights. In other words, courts ask “even if the federal government has the authority to impose these kinds of requirements, does this particular order violate rights that are protected by the Constitution?” If the answer is “yes,” then the Biden order is unlawful.
- Bound up in all of this are questions about the virus and the vaccines themselves. If challengers can prove in court that the vaccine is ineffective, or that it causes unacceptable side effects, then the evidence has a major—if not conclusive—impact on the outcome of the litigation.
THE SIXTH CIRCUIT RULING:
- The three-judge 6th Circuit panel voted to lift the stay 2 to 1.
- In the majority were Judge Julia Smith Gibbons, a George W. Bush appointee, and Judge Jane Branstetter Stranch, an appointee of Barack Obama. Trump appointee Judge Joan Larsen dissented.
- Lifting the stay does not mean that the Biden order is lawful. It means that the judges have voted to allow the order to remain in effect while its legality is determined.
