The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled on two of the vaccine mandates coming out of Washington DC.  It is a mixed bag.

The court struck down the OSHA mandate that would have required vaccination or weekly testing for employees who work for companies with 100 or more employees.  This was a 6-3 decision, with all of the Republican appointees voting to strike down the mandate, while all of the Democratic appointees sided with tyranny.

This was the most egregious edict coming out of the White House.  If it hadn’t been struck down, I think there would have been massive protests in the streets, to say the least.

In the other ruling, the court upheld the vaccine mandate for healthcare workers in facilities that accept government funds (i.e., Medicare and Medicaid).  So it looks like most healthcare workers will have to get the COVID vaccine or get an exemption if they want to keep their jobs.  This is in the midst of supposedly crowded hospitals and staffing shortages.  What could possibly go wrong?

In other words, the CDC is telling people who may still be symptomatic and tested positive for COVID to go back to work in the hospital after 5 days, but if you are not vaccinated and fully healthy, you can’t work.

This egregious decision came from Stephen Breyer, Elena Kagan, and Sonia Sotomayor.  Joining these three were John Roberts and Brett Kavanaugh, who were the swing votes from the other decision.

Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Amy Coney Barrett dissented on this decision.

“Conservative” Judges

On January 7, I wrote the following:

“There are 6 judges on the court who are Republican appointees.  I think Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh (in that order) are likely to favor striking down the vaccine mandates.  Barrett and Roberts are a little less certain.  These may not be black and white decisions either.”

So I was right on everything except I got the order wrong between Kavanaugh and Barrett.  I may not agree with all of her reasoning, but at least Amy Coney Barrett voted in favor of striking down both mandates.  Kavanaugh, the one whom conservatives fought so hard for, betrayed liberty and voted in favor of firing many thousands of healthcare workers.  It is little surprise that Roberts flipped, as he is the reason that Obamacare was originally upheld.

There is no question that Thomas is the best justice for liberty and constitutionality.  He is followed by Gorsuch and Alito.  After those three, you don’t know what you’re going to get.

So-called conservative judges are cited as the reason we need to elect Republicans to the presidency, according to conservatives.  I’m not sure if these two decisions affirm that or contradict that.

Conservative judges – You can’t live with them and you can’t live without them.

It obviously could have been much worse, but it is frustrating to see some conservatives on social media gloating about this.  Sure, the conservative judges struck down the OSHA mandate, but there are now tens of thousands of healthcare workers who are at risk of losing their jobs or being forced to get a shot they don’t want.  And that could include the accountant and the janitor.  This would have been unthinkable two years ago.  Even one year ago, you would have probably been called a conspiracy theorist for predicting such a thing.

So forgive me if I don’t celebrate this.  It partially rolled back the dictatorial powers from the executive branch, but we aren’t in great shape here.  My optimism only comes from the fact that there are tens of millions of people who have been woken up to the fact that the federal government is doing more harm than good.  And many people also have come to realize that there is great evil at the top, including in the administrative state.

I haven’t fully dug into the decisions, but the majority opinion in striking down the OSHA mandate isn’t that great.  Thomas, Gorsuch, and Alito cited federalism, saying that state and local authorities possess considerable power in regulating public health, but the federal government should be limited and divided.  In other words, they are actually looking at the constitutionality of the whole thing.

Even here, they cite that Congress must clearly speak in order to delegate such powers, which I disagree with, as there is nothing in Article 1, Section 8 giving any such powers to Congress in regulating healthcare or workplace safety.

The general majority opinion in the OSHA case was worse in that it criticized the mandate because COVID should not be considered an occupational hazard.  In other words, it leaves room for Congress to do something or for the Biden people to find some other kind of workaround.

My only hope is that the Democrats in Congress take a step back and realize that this isn’t going to be a winning issue for them in November.

Government Funding and Control

The rationale behind allowing the mandates to go forward for healthcare facilities is that they receive government funds.  This is typical in most of what government does.

They steal our money from us and then they fund different sectors of the economy.  Then when they regulate these different sectors and get objections, they say that they have do have the power to control and regulate because these sectors are receiving government funds.

So the thieves steal your money and give some of it back to you.  But because they gave some of it back to you, they get to dictate everything you do with that money and everything that revolves around it.

It is almost impossible to be a healthcare facility – especially a hospital – and not receive government funds.  How can you compete against all of the other entities that are receiving government funds?  Plus, you are still subject to many of the same rules and regulations.

This decision is a good example of why some libertarians oppose school vouchers.  If a “private” school starts accepting any kind of government money (i.e., vouchers), then it becomes subject to all of the rules and regulations.  The government could then tell a school owner to vaccinate all of the employees, or vaccinate all of the children, or teach critical race theory, or whatever.

When you accept the government funds, you also accept all of the dictates that go with it, including the bad ones.  The problem is that the government is stealing the money in the first place.

Where Now?

There are still other mandates to be decided.  There is the mandate put in place for federal contractors, which technically could impact a lot of companies.

There are also mandates within the federal government that have already impacted so many people.  I guess the government really wants to get rid of any free thinkers who do not automatically obey the words of Biden and Fauci.

It will also be interesting to see how this plays out in states where the legislature has said that companies will not impose vaccine mandates.  These are actual laws, unlike the dictates from Washington DC.  If you have a hospital in Florida or Texas, will they follow the state law or the dictates from Washington DC?  It may be a question of where the consequences are the least.

Of course, this whole thing is ridiculous.  Aside from the legality of it all, it is quite obvious that the vaccines do absolutely nothing in preventing the transmission of COVID (as previously admitted by the CDC).  Therefore, there is absolutely no logic in having vaccine mandates except to protect the non-vaccinated people (which in itself I highly question).

Some people will be coerced into taking the jab.  But what about the thousands or millions who don’t obey and lose their job?  Are they better off non-jabbed and unemployed or non-jabbed and employed?  Again, it is clear that vaccination does nothing to stop the spread or protect others.

The Biden administration has created total chaos and destruction.  And the more it is clear that the COVID vaccines are not effective (or safe), the more that the establishment keeps pushing for everyone to get vaccinated.  These are sick and evil people.