Federal Judge Temporarily Blocks New York State From Enforcing Its Own Vaccine Mandate

This is good news -- at least, for the moment; it's a temporary injunction.

As we've recently learned, in case we've forgotten, it's actually governors, not presidents, who have the police power (the power to issue emergency lockdown orders, for example) that can be most oppressive to the citizenry.

The federal government's power is mostly indirect -- it can offer money, or deny money, to states, depending on whether the states agree to enforce federal policy. That is, they can bribe or bully the states into acting in a way the federal government demands.

But the federal government's power to impose emergency police powers itself directly is more limited.

This isn't a case where the state's power is slight compared to the federal government's; the state's power is actually greater.

And yet a federal judge has enjoined the state of New York from enforcing its vaccine mandate on medical workers, at least for the moment.

A federal judge temporarily blocked the state of New York on Tuesday from forcing medical workers to be vaccinated after a group of health care workers sued, saying their Constitutional rights were violated because the state's mandate disallowed religious exemptions.

Judge David Hurd in Utica issued the order after 17 health professionals, including doctors and nurses, claimed in a lawsuit Monday that their rights were violated with a vaccine mandate that disallowed the exemptions.

The judge gave New York state until Sept. 22 to respond to the lawsuit in federal court in Utica. If the state opposes the plaintiffs' request for a preliminary court order blocking the vaccine mandate, a Sept. 28 oral hearing will occur.

...

In their lawsuit, health care professionals disguised their identities with pseudonyms such as "Dr. A.," "Nurse A.," and "Physician Liaison X." They cited violations of the U.S. Constitution, along with the New York State Human Rights Law and New York City Human Rights Law, because the state Department of Health regulation requiring workers to get the vaccine provided no exemption for "sincere religious beliefs that compel the refusal of such vaccination."

Meanwhile, in the Free State of Florida, Governor DeSantis has reiterated the state's law, which will impose a $5000 fine on businesses (or state agencies) which demand proof of vaccination or mandate vaccination.

Businesses asking for proof of vaccination or government agencies mandating vaccination for employees will be facing $5,000 fines per violation, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) reiterated this week.

DeSantis in May signed a bill allowing “the state to issue fines beginning Sept. 16 if people are asked to show proof they have received a COVID-19 vaccine before being allowed in businesses, schools, or government buildings,” WFTV 9 reported.

I believe that law forbids businesses from demanding proof of vaccination from customers, and forbids state agencies from imposing vaccine mandates on employees.

But I don't think the law forbids businesses from demanding that employees get vaxxed or provide proof of vaccination.

We'll see if he asks for a new law specifying that.

posted by Ace at 01:38 PM

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