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--:-- John Bickley: Welcome to Morning Wire. I'm John Bickley.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And I'm Georgia Howe.
--:-- John Bickley: It's Friday, January 14th. We've got a big story to cover today. The Supreme Court ruled against the Biden administration's vaccine mandate for private employers.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's right. The mandate would have impacted 85 million Americans. We'll talk to an attorney who helped lead the lawsuits against the administration.
--:-- John Bickley: We'll also cover the Loudoun County school rape case, which has finally come to an end. And the cable news world is suffering from a seismic shift in viewership, with ratings crashing across the industry.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
--:-- John Bickley: Inflation is destroying the dollar. Birch Gold Group can help protect your IRA or 401k with a precious metals IRA. Text WIRE to 989898 to claim a free info kit on physical gold and silver. There's zero obligation.
--:-- John Bickley: On Thursday, the highest court in the land ruled against the Biden administration's OSHA mandate, which forces private employers to require their workers to be vaccinated or tested.
--:-- Harmeet Dhillon: I'm Harmeet Dhillon, the founder of Dhillon Law Group, which has been working with the Daily Wire in its lawsuit against the administration over the mandate.
--:-- John Bickley: So Harmeet, the court has delivered a significant decision here. First, what are the high-level points from the court's ruling we should know?
--:-- Harmeet Dhillon: Well, I think people are asking questions about what are the different opinions here. And there's a majority opinion of six justices that's called per curiam. And I would say they used the narrowest ground possibly to reach their ruling that that a stay was appropriate for this OSHA workplace mandate.
--:-- John Bickley: And what about the concurring opinion from the conservative justices?
--:-- Harmeet Dhillon: Yeah, so the concurring opinion is led by Justice Gorsuch, joined by Justices Thomas and Alito. These are considered to be the most conservative justices on the court. And they really focus on the big question that a lot of people were focusing on on Friday, who decides?
--:-- John Bickley: And what does that mean for the private employer mandate?
--:-- Harmeet Dhillon: Well, so, you know, effectively, this is going to go back down to the Sixth Circuit. What your listeners should know, and it's a question I'm getting allotted as an employment lawyer and a constitutional lawyer, it's still perfectly legal for employers to mandate vaccination in this country.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks so much for talking with us, Harmeet.
--:-- Harmeet Dhillon: My pleasure. Thank you so much.
--:-- John Bickley: That was Harmeet Dhillon, the founder of Dhillon Law Group. Coming up, the sentence is handed down in the Loudoun County School Bathroom rape case.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: I'm Luke Rosiak, a Daily Wire investigative reporter.
--:-- John Bickley: Luke, what happened in the sentencing Wednesday?
--:-- Luke Rosiak: Well, it was a packed courtroom with a lot of tears. The judge said the rapist was guilty of four crimes and ordered him to residential treatment until he's 18 years old. She also ordered him to be placed on the sex offender registry, something that will follow him for the rest of his life.
--:-- John Bickley: And what about the role of Buddha Bibberi, a prosecutor who ran on a platform of reduced sentencing?
--:-- Luke Rosiak: Yes, and as she looked on, Scott Smith told the court, quote, I questioned some of the decisions of the school system and the prosecuting office for allowing the second assault to happen.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks, Luke.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: Thank you.
--:-- John Bickley: That was Daily Wire investigative reporter Luke Rosiak. Cable news experienced a major disruption in 2021 with ratings down across the board. Among the key 18 to 49 demo advertisers care most about, CNN crashed a whopping 90% from this time last year.
--:-- Megan Basham: I'm Megan Basham, a Daily Wire entertainment reporter.
--:-- John Bickley: So, Megan, CNN's rating decline seems to be making all the headlines, but they're not alone. No, they're not.
--:-- Megan Basham: And I'm pretty sure that's a fact that their competitors would rather not talk about. Right. You know, while CNN is suffering the worst of that mass audience exodus, the other big players in the cable news game are taking some pretty big hits as well.
--:-- John Bickley: And what about the causes of this decline?
--:-- Megan Basham: Yeah, I think it could be a normalization. It's understandable that the numbers would come down off the highs of that first year of COVID when, I mean, we were all sort of glued to our televisions trying to sort out the facts about the pandemic.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks, Megan.
--:-- Megan Basham: Anytime. Thanks, John.
--:-- John Bickley: That was Daily Wire entertainment reporter Megan Basham. If you like this episode and are interested in hearing more, subscribe to Morning Wire on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you're listening, and give us a five-star review.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's all the time we've got this morning. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back tomorrow with the news you need to know.
--:-- John Bickley: Thank you.
