Judging Freedom - INSTANT REACTION: NYC/De Blasio's Business Mandate

Episode Date: December 7, 2021

On a brand new Judging Freedom, Judge Andrew Napolitano discusses the news that New York City has set a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for private-sector works. This new ‘first in the nation’ requirement is scheduled to go into effect on December 27th, says outgoing New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. More from CNBC: The new mandate comes after New York identified eight cases of the omicron variant and the United States once again averages 100,000 new, reported cases of the virus every day. It will cover about 184,000 businesses and applies to all in-person employees who work in an office with others. By Dec. 27, unvaccinated employees must have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine, de Blasio said. Under the new mandate, unvaccinated employees won't have the option to get tested instead, but the city plans to offer religious and medical exemptions. "We've got omicron as a new factor, we've got the colder weather, which is really going to create additional challenges with the delta variant, we've got holiday gatherings," de Blasio said during his appearance on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." "We in New York City have decided to use a preemptive strike to really do something bold to stop the further growth of Covid and the dangers it's causing to all of us."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. This is a special news-breaking edition of Judging Freedom because I am just beside myself listening to Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York City explain that he claims he has the authority to enter private businesses on their business time and tell them how to run their businesses.

If you want to operate a business in New York City, according to this dictatorial rule, you have to follow the wishes of the mayor. Take a listen to Mayor de Blasio this morning on MSNBC. As of today, we're going to announce a first in the nation measure. Our health commissioner will announce a vaccine mandate for private sector employers across the board. All private sector employers in New York City will be covered by this vaccine mandate as of December 27th. We're going to have some other measures as well to really focus on maximizing vaccination quickly so we can get ahead of Omicron and all the other challenges

we're facing right now with COVID. So the first question is, is this legal? And the easy answer is absolutely not. There is a principle of law called the business judgment rule. And that rule permits the owner of a business to decide how to operate it. And the government cannot substitute its judgment for the judgment of the owner. There's also a principle of law called the separation of powers, which means that in our system of government, federal government, Congress writes the laws. State government, state legislature writes the laws. City government, city council writes the laws. The president doesn't write the laws. The governor doesn't write the laws. The mayor doesn't write the laws. And Bill de Blasio should know this because he's been through it before.

He would need an ordinance enacted properly by the city council just to start this ball rolling. And even if he had such an ordinance, it would be unconstitutional because they cannot enter private property to enforce a regulation like this without a search warrant. And a search warrant requires that they go to a federal judge or a state judge and show evidence of crime, not violation of some mayoral edict or even a city ordinance, but crime in order to get on that property. So my dear friends who are business people in New York City, when Bill de Blasio's henchmen come knocking, say to them, where's your

warrant? They won't have one. And then close the door and send them away because you have the constitutional right, even in New York City, to own and operate your business as you see fit. And the mayor and the city council cannot interfere with it. Judge Napolitano on judging freedom. Resolve to earn your degree in the 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.