Balkinization  

Wednesday, January 05, 2022

Covid and OSHA’s emergency powers

Andrew Koppelman

For many purposes—notably, responding to a pandemic—a strong federal government is right handy. But for more than 200 years, some Americans, thinking that they were promoting personal liberty, have tried to persuade the Supreme Court to interpret federal law in a way that would hobble the government. It is happening again with Covid-19. And once again the argument focuses on a technical legal question about the meaning of the word necessary. The court gave the right answer in 1819. If it gets it wrong this time, thousands will die.

This Friday, the court will hear oral arguments in legal challenges to two of President Biden’s Covid vaccine mandates. One of those rules governs medium-size and large workplaces; the other focuses on health care workers. In both, the court must decide whether the rules are authorized by the relevant federal statutes. The challenges are legally weak, but the court may not see it that way. A faction led by Justice Neil Gorsuch has been shockingly cavalier about the dangers of vaccine resistance—and there’s one particularly bad argument that is likely to tempt Gorsuch’s cohort.

I explain in a new piece in The New Republic, here.



Older Posts
Newer Posts
Home