A federal circuit court ordered OSHA to stop implementing the vaccine mandate on businesses. Some on the left are now calling the court a radical threat to democracy.
Summary
The Biden administration’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration is suspending the implementation and enforcement of the COVID-19 vaccine mandate on businesses.
- The suspension follows a ruling from the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ordering OSHA to halt implementing the rule.
- Before suspension of the rule, businesses with more than 100 employees were to be forced to vaccinate all employees or implement a masking and testing regime or face stiff fines.
- Several states filed a lawsuit over the mandate.
- Despite the suspension of the rule, some states including Florida are pushing forward with legislation to neuter OSHA’s authority in their state.
- CNN focused on the vaccine mandate’s fate in court, noting that when it was first announced, even “liberal-leaning unions” filed suit against OSHA, saying the agency had no authority in this situation.
- New York Times opinion contributor Linda Greenhouse breathlessly declared the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals a threat to democracy for issuing the stay and “radical” after appointments to the Court by Trump. She also called the opinion written by Judge Engelhardt a “bizarre” and “astonishing document.”
- NBC News reported on the series of legislation in Florida attempting to limit federal authority in the state over COVID-19 mandates, including expanding exemptions on vaccine mandates and preventing vaccine or mask mandates in schools.
- Daily Caller reported on the suspension by including a nugget from earlier in the month in which the White House apparently told private businesses they should proceed regardless of the potential litigation over the OSHA mandate.
- RedState argued that stopping the OSHA mandate is useless if businesses themselves don’t reject self-imposed mandates, arguing the OSHA rule was to “give Biden’s political allies in the corporate world the necessary tool to enforce a vaccine mandate and not take the heat for it.”
- Fox News noted businesses who failed to comply would face as much as $14,000 per violation in fines.
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© Dallas Gerber, 2021
