In a bipartisan virtual meeting with governors Tuesday, Biden seemed to wash his hands of the Covid challenges saying it will not be solved at the federal level—it will be the states that do it.
Next Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear challenges to Biden’s mandate about federal workers and contractors that was wide ranging. Depending upon the court’s finding, it could have profound implications at the state level.
Pacific Justice Institute attorneys, on a pre-Christmas Zoom call, said, “you could have a situation where their initial (media) reports about the mandates being struck down, but in deep blue states like the West Coast, like in the Northeast, that could actually strengthen the hand of some of the politicians, the governors who have been so tyrannical with their mandate.”
Institute lawyers have been representing employees who lost their jobs or had their jobs threatened by asking for a religious exemption to the mandate. For the record, I write this as a guy who sought vaccines as soon as they were available and did the same with the booster. That’s my choice. It’s the mandate that raises my hackles as well as those of others.
The same federal versus state authority could well emerge next summer when the Supreme Court will decide a landmark abortion case that could overturn Roe vs. Wade. Justices heard oral arguments earlier this month. If the federal decision is overturned—and it’s questionable legally based on the 14th Amendment and an invented right of privacy—then the authority will revert to the states. You can expect red states to establish much more restrictive laws, while blue states such as California and Gov. Gavin Newsom already are planning to welcome abortion-seeking women from elsewhere.
Reading Dr. John Jackson’s latest book, “The Prevailing Church” this morning, he brought the issue home when he pointed out that 65% of women who have had abortions self-identify as Christians. He also wrote about 60 million babies have been aborted since the Supreme Court decision in 1973. Abortion also is far more prevalent in the Black community, which makes about 13% of the population but accounts for more than one-third of the abortions, according to Centers for Disease Control stats.
It is notable to see how authoritarian most blue state governors have been. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who replaced the disgraced Andrew Cuomo, ordered a statewide indoor mask mandate when there were only 20 cases of omicron variant in the state.
Newsom issued a new mandate this month that all health care workers must get booster shots. He also re-established the indoor mask mandate as well as mandating that all school children must be vaccinated. By my reading, there’s solid science that Covid is not a threat to elementary students and the mask mandate certainly is not enhancing their education or socialization.
It’s also notable that Newsom continues to maintain the state of emergency that gives him unfettered power without any requirement to win legislative approval.
By contrast, consider that Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, also a Democrat, refused to establish statewide mandates and was willing to trust local elected officials and health departments to take appropriate actions. Oh, for a governor who does not want to be king.
