Courts Tell Biden’s Bureaucrats They Don’t Get To Make Health Care Decisions For American Workers

Although President Joe Biden once proclaimed the pandemic over and his administration is currently urging the Supreme Court to eliminate Covid-19 immigration policies, it nevertheless seeks to impose a vaccination mandate on about one-fifth of the nation’s workforce.

Executive Order 14042 Federal contractors must ensure that every federal employee working on a contract or sharing a workspace is fully vaccinated for Covid-19. Two federal courts of appeals have recently put the mandate on ice, finding that — far from an everyday exercise of government power — the mandate significantly and improperly governs the lives and health decisions of much of the nation’s workforce.

The 11th And Fifth Circuit Both the Courts of Appeals and the Supreme Court of Appeals issued injunctions against contractor mandates, concluding that they likely violate separation of powers principles. These courts relied upon the principle that Congress has lawmaking authority and not federal agencies. This means that Congress must grant an agency the power to exercise it. 

The contractor mandate case is straightforward when framed in this manner. Congress has nowhere authorized the federal government to impose a nationwide mandate on those involved in federal contracts; thus the agency’s mandate is unlawful. The Fifth Circuit Court described the caseThe Biden administration seeks to “to unilaterally impose a health care decision on one-fifth of all employees in the United States.”

Administration’s Argument

According to the administration, a 1947 statute is inapplicable. Procurement ActIt is empowered to impose the mandate. The purpose This statute “is to provide the Federal Government with an economical and efficient system” it is for government procurement. It allows the president “prescribe policies and directives that the President considers necessary to carry out” The act. The administration stated that the power of procure also includes the power of making health care decisions for a large portion the American workforce. 

The lower courts disagreed. The Procurement Act demands that all regulatory actions must be in compliance with the statute. must Therefore, you can be sure to have a “sufficiently close nexus” Its requirements are “the values of ‘economy’ and ‘efficiency.’” The Fifth Circuit ruled that the vaccine mandate didn’t have such a nexus. The court stated that the president would have near unlimited authority if it was found otherwise. The executive could imposeFor example, there are requirements that “all federal contractors certify that their employees take daily vitamins, live in smoke-free homes, [or] exercise three times a week.” 

The Fifth and 11th Circuits also found the contractor mandate to be different in kind from historical exercises of administrative power under the Procurement Act — such as E-Verify or sick-leave requirements. The administration never before placed obligations on individuals employees. Moreover, this is a first. any of the other According to the Procurement Act, a vaccine could only be given if it was required. “undone at the end of the workday.’”

A massive expansion of authority

The contractor mandate case is important — and concerning — because

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