US Supreme Court
SPRINGFIELD – Conservative state lawmakers responded to the US Supreme Court's ruling Thursday that stayed the Biden Administration’s COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) during the pendency of the 6th Circuit case.
The Court stated, “the Act empowers the Secretary to set workplace safety standards, not broad public health measures.”
Some conservative lawmakers in the Illinois General Assembly issued statements in response to the ruling.
State Senator Darren Bailey, who is also a 2022 GOP primary candidate for governor said,
Today's SCOTUS ruling confirms what we knew all along, Biden’s vaccine mandate on businesses is unconstitutional. As Governor, I’ll always stand up to federal overreach, like I stood up to Pritzker and his unilateral mandates that devastated businesses and working families. I will always stand up for individual freedoms and working families while reforming Springfield and restoring Illinois through conservative, common-sense solutions.
State Representatives Brad Halbrook (R-Shelbyville); Dan Caulkins (R-Decatur); Blaine Wilhour (R-Beecher City); Adam Niemerg (R-Dieterich) and Chris Miller (R-Oakland) issued a joint statement on the decision as well:
The United States Supreme Court today affirmed the right of individuals to make their own healthcare decisions by blocking the Biden Administration’s vaccine mandates on employers with more than 100 workers.
A pandemic does not erase the rights we as individuals have under our Constitution. Yes, the pandemic is a serious public health concern, but our response to this virus must be done within the context of our Constitutional rights which are innate to every American citizen.
There is no compelling reason to force these interventions on the more than 80 million workers who would have been subject to the Biden mandates as both vaccinated and unvaccinated are contracting COVID-19. The Biden Administration knew these mandates would not pass Constitutional muster and yet they pushed them anyway. Frankly, we find that alarming.
We acknowledge there is still much more work to be done with regard to protecting the rights of our medical personnel, but thankfully, our system of government has checks and balances in place to protect our rights as citizens. The United States Supreme Court took a major step forward by blocking the Biden Administration’s reckless overreach and abuse of power.
The lawmakers then called on the Illinois courts to stop Governor Pritzker's "abuse of power" at the state level.
Now it is time for the courts in Illinois to finally do the job our feckless legislature refuses to do and stop the abuse of power we see at the state level with the endless parade of emergency powers proclamations put forth by Governor Pritzker. It is time for our state courts to step up and rein in the state agencies and the political class that have been allowed to exercise unchecked power over the rights of the citizens.
More on the January 13, 2022 SCOTUS Decision HERE.
