SCOTUS & Vaccine Mandates
Image: Illinois Realtors
🎁 The Supreme Court will hear arguments later today in two cases regarding a pair of vaccine mandates announced by the Biden administration last fall:
- An OSHA mandate that requires private businesses with 100+ employees to ensure their workers are vaccinated or tested each week. This applies to ~84 million workers.
- A CDC regulation requiring healthcare facilities accepting money from Medicare and Medicaid to have their employees vaccinated. This applies to ~17 million workers.
⚖️ The arguments: In both cases, the legal challenges heard today will focus less on the substance of the Biden admin's rules, which is fairly consistent with SCOTUS precedent, but rather their source – the executive branch.
- OSHA: A group of 27 states and 26 business groups challenging the law say Congress never clearly gave the agency the power to implement a vaccine-or-test mandate, arguing that public health-and-safety initiatives are reserved for state governments to decide.
- CDC: In this case, the roles are reversed – the Biden administration is challenging lower court decisions that paused the CDC's mandate in 25 states, arguing the government has clear authority to impose conditions like vaccine mandates on facilities accepting federal funds.
👁️ Looking ahead… There's no set timetable for the Supreme Court to issue its decisions in either case. The time-sensitive nature of the disputes likely means the rulings will come in a matter of weeks, if not days, the WSJ reports.
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