A fight that has been called “the defining issue of the 2022 election cycle” is up before the Supreme Court on Friday, where the nine justices will hear arguments from the Biden administration that it can order Americans to take experimental treatments at will.
Or that the Constitution doesn’t give the president the authority to impose medical treatments through the COVID shots.
Americans already have express their own opinion, with the results of a poll by Convention of States Action, in partnership with The Trafalgar Group, showing 51.1% of voters say they favor a bill in Congress to block Biden’s dictates.
Only about 41% say they do not support the block.
“In this poll we see that a good number of voters are not aware of the measure in Congress to block Biden’s vaccine mandate, but among those who are aware, big majorities support the effort, even a third of voters in Biden’s own party,” said Mark Meckler, president of Convention of States Action. “This is the defining issue of the 2022 election cycle. Elected officials will be held accountable for their position, they cannot hide from this. They either believe that Americans should preserve our constitutional freedoms we have enjoyed for over 230 years, or they believe bureaucrats in Washington, D.C., should be empowered to trample on personal liberty.”
Trafalger was one of the most accurate American pollsters in 2016, 2018, 2020, and 2021, and the results of the current poll come from more than 1,000 likely 2022 election voters polled Dec. 17-21.
The poll found 73.3% of Republican voters with an opinion on the issue said they support the bill in Congress to block President Biden’s attempts to mandate vaccines for employees of large businesses. Nearly one-third of Democrats, 32.5%, agreed.
The fight is over Biden’s nationwide orders that people accept the experimental COVID shots in order to keep their jobs.
It affects tens of millions of employees who work for private sector companies.
Legal experts say they expect a quick ruling on Biden’s “work-around” strategy to impose the requirement through a rule from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which governs workplace safety.
Biden’s plan is to fine companies $13,600 per violation if it is allowed to proceed. Nationally, an estimated two of three workers would fall under the mandate.
But the challenge, from companies, trade associations and more than half of the states, charge Biden exceeded his authority.
The case has reached the high court in a short time. OSHA imposed the mandates in November and within days the fight was in court. An appeals court in New Orleans ordered the demands frozen, concluding they were “staggeringly overbroad.”
The ruling challenged Biden’s assumption of “virtually unlimited power to control individual conduct under the guise of a workplace regulation.”
Eventually several mandate fights were consolidated into the hearing Friday. Issues include whether Biden’s mandate on companies with 100 or more workers stands, or whether his demand for shots for health-care workers stands.
The Hill reported an advocacy group working with Vice President Mike Pence filed a brief urging the high court to reject Biden’s strategy, which his advisers have admitted is a “work-around” to ordinary limits on the president’s power.
Pence filed through the group called Advancing American Freedom, which argues Biden’s plan is not only unconstitutional but exceeds the power of OSHA.
“America is about freedom and the ability to make the best decision for your family or business, and Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate must be stopped in its tracks in order to preserve freedom, protect American livelihoods and businesses, and to safeguard our constitution,” Pence said.
The brief suggests Biden is just trying to use OSHA rules to get the shot mandates that he could not get in Congress.
Reuters noted the court’s 6-3 conservative majority previously has been skeptical about sweeping actions, like a shot mandate, from a federal agency.
On the issue of mandates, the justices have not been in agreement when ruling on claims of religious exemptions.
It has, in other COVID-linked disputes, backed religious challenges to other restrictions and ended the federal government’s residential housing eviction moratorium.
In the pending disputes, challengers explain the federal government overstepped its authority by demanding actions not authorized by Congress.
Biden has threatened to start requiring compliance with the rules on Monday.
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