‘Victory for the rule of law’: McMaster cheers court ruling blocking Biden vaccine mandate
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster celebrated Thursday after the U.S. Supreme Court blocked a Biden administration plan to require employees at companies with more than 100 workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
“Today’s SCOTUS ruling on OSHA is a victory for the rule of law, federalism, and the Constitution,” McMaster tweeted Thursday afternoon. “South Carolina employers can breathe a little easier today knowing that President Biden and the Democrats’ radical agenda and illegal OSHA mandate has been exposed and disposed.”
McMaster was joined in celebration by the SC Chamber of Commerce, whose CEO, Bob Morgan, said he was pleased to see the mandate struck down.
“We believe private sector employers should be allowed to run their businesses without excessive government interference,” Morgan said in a statement. “As a result, we oppose efforts at the federal level that would require businesses to mandate vaccines, just as we also oppose efforts at the state level that would prohibit businesses from choosing to mandate vaccines.”
Biden would have used the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to enforce the vaccine mandate. The high court ruled that OSHA did not have the power to regulate public health. Under the plan, workers at businesses with 100 or more employees would have to require workers to get the COVID-19 vaccine or test negative each week.
The ruling came the same week that Biden’s plan started to take effect.
“Although Congress has indisputably given OSHA the power to regulate occupational dangers, it has not given that agency the power to regulate public health more broadly,” the court’s opinion read.
South Carolina officials have been heavily involved in the fight against the mandate.
In early November, McMaster banned his cabinet officials from enforcing the Biden administration rule. State Attorney Alan Wilson filed several legal challenges to Biden administration initiatives to increase the number of vaccinated Americans by mandating them.
Last month, Wilson called for the Supreme Court to weigh in on the vaccine mandate for large businesses after a federal appeals court let it stand.
Thursday, Wilson strongly agreed with the court’s decision to block the mandate.
“We’ve never seen an administration try to weaponize the federal bureaucracy the way the Biden administration has,” Wilson said in a statement. “We’re grateful the Supreme Court agrees with us that no president has the authority to mandate vaccines for private employers.”
