White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients has confirmed that he and his pandemic task force are considering requiring those wishing to fly to be vaccinated as a further acceleration of President Joe Biden’s new tactic of pressuring, not just asking, Americans to get vaccinated.
This is very likely to occur because proof of vaccination will soon be a de facto requirement for international flights, and Canada has already adopted such a requirement, says public interest law professor John Banzhaf, who proposed this tactic to Biden‘s COVID advisors weeks ago – along with suggestions for using his executive authority over grants, and to require vaccination of federal workers, both of which have now occurred.
The need for this new tactic is very strong, since Biden‘s proposal to have OSHA order all companies with 100 or more workers to require them to be vaccinated or undergo periodic tests is about to be challenged in the courts, and injunctions against it becoming effective are likely for at least two reasons, explains the law professor.
First, challengers get to choose the court in which the challenges will be filed, and they can and certainly will selected jurisdictions where they are most likely to find a sympathetic judge.
Second, challengers can get as many bites to the apple as they wish, since even rulings by a dozen or more courts which refuse to issue a temporary restraining order or a preliminary injunction can be trumped by any other judge in the future who is convinced by the mandate’s challengers.
By: Public Interest Law Professor John Banzhaf.
