Judging Freedom - Biden vaccine policies face Supreme Court test amid nationwide COVID-19 surge

Episode Date: January 7, 2022

Biden vaccine policies face Supreme Court test amid nationwide COVID-19 surge, Judge Napolitano gives the details.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Resolve to earn your degree in the new year in the Bay with WGU. WGU is an online accredited university that specializes in personalized learning. With courses available 24-7 and monthly start dates, you can earn your degree on your schedule. You may even be able to graduate sooner than you think by demonstrating mastery of the material you know. Make 2025 the year you focus on your future. Learn more at wgu.edu. Hello, everyone. Judge Napolitano here with one of my pop-ups on judging freedom. Today is the January 7th, 2022. It's still in the morning. The Supreme Court, however, has finished oral argument in two cases in which President Biden's edicts have been challenged as being unconstitutional. constitutional normally this would be a run-of-the-mill and not newsworthy but it's newsworthy because this is an emergent application meaning the challengers have asked the supreme court for a

very very fast ruling rather than having a ruling come down in the ordinary course which takes about four or five or six months so the supreme, in response to that request for a fast ruling, has given the challengers and the government an oral argument. First of all, they never do oral arguments on Friday, and today is Friday. And secondly, they never do oral arguments on emergent matters, and these are both emergent matters. What are they? President Biden directed the Department of Labor, which in turn directed the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, commonly known as OSHA, to issue a regulation requiring all employers in the United States of 100 or more persons to require their employees be vaccinated or against COVID-19 or tested once a week. And OSHA said it will physically enter the premises of these corporations and examine their health records of their employees. So that was challenged in a federal district court and then in two federal appellate courts,

and it's now before the Supreme Court. The president also directed the Secretary of Health and Human Services to direct that everyone who works in Medicare or Medicaid or who works in the health care industry where Medicare or Medicaid dollars are involved, that all those persons be fully vaccinated with no option for the testing. And that has been challenged. Now, these challenges come in under a number of bases. Some say it's against my religion to receive a vaccine. I'm Catholic, and some of these vaccines are the product of aborted fetuses, and the Catholic Church condemns abortion, and I condemn abortion, and you can't force me to be involved with abortion

in any way. A perfectly legitimate argument. Others say I control my own body. The Supreme Court has ruled that a half dozen times. The government doesn't control my body, and I decide what goes into it, into my body. The most profound, in my view, constitutional argument is that these are edicts, both the one involving the employers of more than 100 or more persons, more than 100 persons and the Medicare Medicaid people. These are not laws enacted by Congress. And under the Constitution, we have the separation of powers. Congress writes the laws. The president enforces the laws.

The courts interpret the laws. These are regulations of human behavior that carry a penalty if you don't comply. What's that? That's a law. And only the Congress can write the law. Not only did Congress not write these laws, the president didn't even ask Congress to do so. He just directed the bureaucrats that work for him and the Department of Labor and the Department of Health and Human Services to issue these. So the issue before the Supreme Court is, are we going to accept a bureaucrat's regulation as law, even though the Constitution says only the Congress writes the law? Well, that's what was argued this morning. And the government is saying, yes, you should accept it as law because this is a profound health emergency and the government

exists to address health emergencies. The challengers say, no, the government does not exist to address health emergencies, at least not the federal government. Health, safety, welfare, and morality are reserved by the 10th Amendment to the state governments. And by the way, Department of Justice, I'm summarizing the argument of the challengers here. There's no public health exception to the Constitution. We don't change the Constitution because there's a public health crisis. Oh, and by the way, how bad a crisis can this be? Because the regulations for private industry only govern those employers of 100 or more persons,

and more Americans are employed by employers who employ 99 or fewer. So how bad can this emergency be, Mr. President? It doesn't even cover the majority of Americans. So that's the argument that's before the Supreme Court. I think they'll rule pretty quickly, probably in the next week or so. The original deadline was January 4, and that was three days ago. Obviously, the government is not enforcing these regulations because they're subject to the decision of the Supreme Court. If you're an employer of 100 or more persons and OSHA comes knocking, ask them for their search warrant.

They won't have one. And when they don't have one, close the door. They have no right to come onto your property, and they have no right to look at the health records of your employees. Just a little advice. Judge Napolitano, judging freedom. These are dark days that we live in. They really, really are.

Government wants to use its power to put a needle into your arm, and it's doing so through your employer, and then it's threatening to fine the employer $14,000 a day, another number they made up, per employee who's unvaccinated. And this in times of inflation. Government is not your friend. Have a nice weekend. New Year in the Bay with WGU. With courses available online 24-7 and monthly start dates, WGU offers maximum flexibility so you can focus on your future. Learn more at wgu.edu.