Vaccination Mandates Head to Court, Testing Biden
Lawsuits are raising age-old questions about federal authority, states’ rights and the independence of businesses and individuals. Governments big and small should make sure the common good prevails.
Vaccination mandates test the balance among federal, state and corporate powers — and the rights of individuals.
Photographer: David Dee Delgado/Getty Images
Covid-19 vaccination mandates continue to test the balance among federal, state and corporate powers — and the rights of individuals — during an emergency. They’re also testing, inevitably, how communities and the country define “emergencies” — a more subjective standard legislatures will have to do a better job of clarifying before the next public health crisis because courts alone won’t provide a long-term solution.
On Saturday, three federal appeals court judges in Louisiana, responding to petitions filed by Southern states, business owners, a handful of workers and advocacy groups, temporarily blocked the Biden administration’s requirement that workplaces employing 100 or more people become fully vaccinated by Jan. 4 or implement weekly testing.