During a podcast that was recorded on Thursday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) slammed United States Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh for not having a “backbone,” after the two conservative justices sided with liberal SCOTUS justices in declaring that the Biden administration’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for healthcare workers is constitutional. DeSantis’ comments came on “Ruthless,” while discussing the High Court’s decision on Thursday against the private sector mandate for employers with 100 or more employees.
As The Daily Wire reported on Thursday, “The Supreme Court blocked the Biden administration’s emergency rule that would have forced large employers to vaccinate or regularly test their employees.”
That case was decided 6-3, with conservatives all in agreement, albeit for slightly different reasons:
Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Gorsuch suggested the pandemic would best be handled by the states or Congress. Justices Amy Coney Barrett critiqued the broadness of the mandate. Justice Brett Kavanaugh, given the economic and political stakes, posited that the governing statute did not provide clear authority for such a broad mandate.
Speaking before a live crowd in Florida on Thursday afternoon, DeSantis said that decision was a “no-brainer.”
“We won 6-3 on that, which is good, but honestly, this a no-brainer,” the Florida governor said. “Anybody who’s not a far-left jurist is going to go that way.”
However, the court also ruled Thursday in a 5-4 decision in favor of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) vaccine mandate. As The Daily Wire reported, “Justices Brett Kavanaugh, John Roberts, Sonia Sotomayor, Stephen Breyer, and Elena Kagen ruled to uphold the CMS mandate while Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Amy Coney Barrett dissented.”
Regarding that decision, DeSantis was highly critical.
“But on the medical, the nurse mandate and the doctor mandate, Roberts and Kavanaugh joined with the liberals to allow the nurse mandate,” DeSantis said.
“Here’s what’s going on. Think about how insane this is,” he continued. “Now in Florida, we protected the nurses, so we have people who are working. But in other states, they fired nurses who were not vaccinated. Many of them have natural immunity from prior infection. So they fire them. Now they’re so shorthanded, they’re bringing back nurses who are COVID positive.”
“Honestly, Roberts and Kavanaugh didn’t have a backbone on that decision. That’s the bottom line,” DeSantis added.
DeSantis made similar comments earlier in the day on Thursday at a press conference in Panama City, Florida. The governor emphasized that CMS mandate made zero sense given the “ineffectiveness” of the vaccines to stop the transmission of the COVID-19.
Related:
- Supreme Court Allows CMS Vaccine Mandate For Healthcare Workers To Go Forward
- READ IT: Supreme Court’s Massive Blow Against Biden’s Vax Mandate
- Biden Urges Businesses To ‘Institute Vaccination Requirements’ After Supreme Court Blow
- Morning Wire: Supreme Court Rules Against Biden’s Private Employer Mandate