Steve Simpson of Pacific Legal Foundation argues that if the federal government can be mandating these kinds of things where people are required essentially to be healthy, "it falls naturally that they can do it in all kinds of ways."
He continues: "In fact, that's exactly what was at issue in the Affordable Care Act case in 2012 when the Supreme Court took up NFIB v. Sebelius …. One of the points that the court made clear [then] is that requiring people to buy insurance just because it's good for them or is somehow good for them is beyond Congress's commerce powers."
That, says Simpson, is part of the reason President Joe Biden doesn't want to go through Congress: either he doesn't think Congress will pass it or he thinks that it will be difficult to get it passed.
"Secondly, there would be a challenge to Congress's authority," Simpson offers. "So, instead he's taking kind of a backdoor approach and mandating it through employers, which [creates] a connection to commerce.
"But if the federal government can mandate that you get a vaccine, there is no good reason that it can't mandate that you do all kinds of other things in order to maintain your health."
Talking about that on American Family Radio, AFA general counsel and radio host Abraham Hamilton III said Simpson's suggested scenario is possible.
"If the president of the United States can get away with forcing private employers to compel their employees to be injected with a substance, regardless of their consent, or to be tested regularly, then where are the limits on executive power?" asked Hamilton.
The AFA attorney went on to say that people are far more willing to abandon their liberties in the face of an emergency.
"That's why you had Rahm Emanuel under the Obama administration saying 'We can never let a good crisis go to waste,'" said Hamilton. "So, … when you have this tyrannical endeavor to consistently expand the executive power, do not be surprised when you have events routinely described or redescribed as 'emergencies.'"
Saying "our patience is wearing thin," Biden said earlier this month that federal employees must be vaccinated and that private sector employers with 100 or more employees must require their workers to be fully vaccinated or show a negative test at least once a week.
"The Department of Labor is developing an emergency rule," Biden added.
In a piece he wrote for The Hill, Simpson makes the case that this is something the legislative branch should be doing – not the executive branch.
Editor's Note: The American Family Association is the parent organization of the American Family News Network, which operates AFN.net.
