The U.S. Supreme Court ruled exactly as it should have on Thursday when it blocked President Joe Biden's mandate on large employers requiring vaccines or regular testing of employees, but it left open the question of whether states will be able to pass or prevent mandates themselves, constitutional law expert Alan Dershowitz tells Newsmax.
"I hate to brag about this, but I predicted this outcome," Dershowitz said Thursday on "Spicer & Co."
The former Harvard Law professor favors vaccine mandates, but said they will be upheld only if they are passed through the legislative branch, not ordered through the executive branch. And, he added, "if they were based on the science."
Biden's mandate relies on regulations from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) that protect workers' safety. Dershowitz had predicted that because of this, the mandate would not be upheld.
Chief Justice Neil Gorsuch "put it exactly right when he said the big issue here is 'who decides,'" Dershowitz told hosts Sean Spicer and Lyndsay Keith.
The part of the mandate on healthcare workers was upheld, he said, because "it's an old traditional rule that if you pay for something you get to impose conditions, and so, of course, the federal government does get to pay for Medicaid, Medicare, virtually all hospital workers one way or the other."
All Americans will be happy with half the ruling and unhappy with the other half, Dershowitz said. "But this probably does follow the rule of law."
What the Supreme Court didn't decide, however, is what the states now have the power to do, he added.
"What if Texas decides that it's illegal under Texas law? If the Texas Legislature passed the statute, saying mandates are just not proper, we don't approve them, and California passes a law saying mandates are obligatory, do the states now have some power since Congress has not filled the vacuum?" he asked.
"There is no real hint in the decision about the power of states. So I do think that this is the beginning of a dialogue among the branches of government."
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