After President Joe Biden finished his speech last Thursday evening announcing new COVID-19 vaccine mandates, a reporter called out, “Is this constitutional?” Biden, leaving the room, did not stop to answer.
The president’s new vaccine mandate directs the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, part of the Labor Department, to require all organizations with 100 employees or more either to test their employees weekly for COVID-19 or ensure they are vaccinated. Biden also signed an executive order requiring that all federal employees and contract workers be vaccinated.
One of the most important questions to ask is whether OSHA “has the statutory authority … to issue a rule of this type,” Heritage Foundation legal scholar John Malcolm says.
Biden’s requirements likely will affect between 80 and 100 million Americans, some of whom now face the choice of taking a COVID-19 vaccine or losing their job.
Malcolm, who is a senior legal fellow at Heritage and directs its Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to explain the constitutionality of vaccine mandates and the likelihood that litigation over a new OSHA rule will rise to the Supreme Court. (The Heritage Foundation is the parent organization of The Daily Signal.)
We also cover these stories:
- Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich announces the filing of a lawsuit against the Biden administration in response to proposed vaccine mandates.
- Secretary of State Antony Blinken appears before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to face questions about the hasty U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
- Senate Democrats unveil legislation to change federal election law in response to new Republican-led election reforms in Texas and Florida.
Have an opinion about this article? To sound off, please email [email protected] and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Remember to include the URL or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state.
