Just As I Said -- The Fifth Circuit Was In Error, As Was The Texas USDC -- Prior OSHA Vax Stay... Lifted In Sixth Circuit, Tonight. Boom.

Updated 12.18.2021: To be clear, as an appellate opinion -- this decision sweeps away all the trial court rulings to the contrary. It is the final word, nationwide -- unless the Supremes step in to stop the mandate. Cheers.

More in a minute (and an updated graphic) -- but I wanted to post the full opinion, as a link. Unsurprisingly, OSHA -- as its agency name suggests -- may regulate workplace health. Full stop.

Here it is, a full 57 pager -- and the most-salient bit:

. . .Congress passed the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSH Act or the Act) and established OSHA “to assure safe and healthful working conditions for the nation’s work force and to preserve the nation’s human resources.” Asbestos Info. Ass’n/N. Am. v. Occupational Safety & Health Admin., 727 F.2d 415, 417 (5th Cir. 1984). It expressly found that “personal injuries and illnesses arising out of work situations impose a substantial burden upon, and are a hindrance to, interstate commerce in terms of lost production, wage loss, medical expenses, and disability compensation payments.” 29 U.S.C. § 651(a).

OSHA is charged with ensuring worker safety and health “by developing innovative methods, techniques, and approaches for dealing with occupational safety and health problems.” Id. § 651(b)(5). To fulfill that charge, Congress authorized the Secretary of Labor (the Secretary) “to set mandatory occupational safety and health standards applicable to businesses affecting interstate commerce.” Id. § 651(b)(3). And it vested the Secretary with “broad authority . . . to promulgate different kinds of standards” for health and safety in the workplace. Indus. Union Dep’t, AFL-CIO v. Am. Petroleum Inst., 448 U.S. 607, 611 (1980). . . .

Fundamentally, the ETS is an important step in curtailing the transmission of a deadly virus that has killed over 800,000 people in the United States, brought our healthcare system to its knees, forced businesses to shut down for months on end, and cost hundreds of thousands of workers their jobs. In a conservative estimate, OSHA finds that the ETS will “save over 6,500 worker lives and prevent over 250,000 hospitalizations” in just six months. 86 Fed. Reg. 61,402, 61,408. A stay would risk compromising these numbers, indisputably a significant injury to the public. The harm to the Government and the public interest outweighs any irreparable injury to the individual Petitioners who may be subject to a vaccination policy, particularly here where Petitioners have not shown a likelihood of success on the merits. See Coleman v. Paccar, Inc., 424 U.S. 1301, 1307–08 (1976).

In light of the foregoing, we find that the factors regarding irreparable injury weigh in favor of the Government and the public interest. . . .

Grinning ear to ear. Of course, the Supremes are yet to formally weigh in -- but this increases the odds that the mandate takes effect, and measurably so. The above ruling comes from a generally conservative federal circuit (middle Ohio), but it simply applies clearly settled 60-plus year old law. Science -- and black letter federal law. . . win the day.



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