The Supreme Court Said Vaccine Mandates Were Constitutional, But Not the Way Biden is Doing It.

Facts really do matter. A lot of people trying to prop up Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate are being very, very loose with the facts in order to justify what Biden is doing.

They are relying on Jacobson v. Massachusetts, 197 U.S. 11 (1905), a Supreme Court case that upheld a vaccine mandate for smallpox. It is true. The Court did that. But everyone citing Jacobson is choosing to ignore the facts of the case, which matter greatly here.

In Jacobson, the Court upheld the vaccine mandate that was (1) a state level mandate (2) based on a statute specifically authorizing vaccine mandates (3) passed by the state legislature of Massachusetts and signed into law by the Governor.

If anything, Jacobson undermines Joe Biden’s argument, both because that mandate was based on legislative authorization and because the Court found the vaccine mandate is a police power and the police power belongs with the states.

The authority of the State to enact this statute is to be referred to what is commonly called the police power -- a power which the State did not surrender when becoming a member of the Union under the Constitution. Although this court has refrained from any attempt to define the limits of that power, yet it has distinctly recognized the authority of a State to enact quarantine laws and "health laws of every description;" indeed, all laws that relate to matters completely within its territory and which do not, by their necessary operation, affect the people of other States. 197 U. S. at 25

The Court has never “distinctly recognized the authority of” the federal government to enact a vaccine mandate except as it applies to federal workers and the military.

In fact, it is settled law that the President can order vaccines for members of the military and the federal workforce. It is absolutely unsettled that the President can use OSHA to enact a vaccine mandate. In fact, given recent Court precedent, it is most likely a bridge too far to argue that the originating statute for OSHA gives OSHA power to impose a vaccine mandate — especially when done by executive order and not through the regulatory process.

Yes, it is true, the Supreme Court has upheld a vaccine mandate. But the facts really do matter. I realize you can find a lawyer to tell you anything is most likely legal and “the experts” will tell you whatever you want to hear.

But that doesn’t mean they are telling the truth or even really understand the facts. The facts of Jacobson do not apply to the current vaccine mandate and Biden’s action is most likely unconstitutional.