The United States Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit issued a ruling Friday upholding President Biden’s vaccine mandate for businesses with over 100 employees. The opinion was written by Justice Jane B. Stranch, an Obama appointee. The ruling eviscerated the stay issued by the 5th Circuit court with the following argument:

“Petitioners’ arguments are primarily grounded in the Fifth Circuit’s blanket conclusion that the ETS is beyond the scope of OSHA’s statutory authority. The ETS was issued under § 655(c)(1) of the Act, which requires OSHA to issue an emergency standard if necessary to protect workers from a ‘grave danger’ presented by ‘exposure to substances or agents determined to be toxic or physically harmful or from new hazards’…In assessing that authority, the Fifth Circuit focused solely on the words…’substances or agents…toxic or physically harmful…grave danger,’ opining that those words are to be interpreted based on the words and phrases in the immediate vicinity of the statutory language at issue…But the Supreme Court has instructed that words and phrases must be viewed in the context of the entire statute…(instructing that, when evaluating a statute, a court ‘must not be guided by a single sentence or member of a sentence, but look to the provisions of the whole law’). We therefore take a holistic view of the language that Congress chose to include in its statutory authorization to OSHA.”

That key passage will make it especially difficult for the Federalist Society brand judges on the Supreme Court to reverse the order without making themselves look like ridiculous partisan stooges. Given existing precedent that judges should review the entirety of a statute when trying to interpret the intent of Congress, even ardent GOP stooges like Alito and Thomas will have a hard time trying to present an argument that judges should cherry-pick bits of text out of a piece of legislation, and generate rulings that are arbitrary and capricious, and motivated by the sole intent of satisfying the political agenda of those groups that provide you with lavish hotel stays and generous speaking fees during those months when the court is in recess.