The COVID-19 Vaccine Rule for U.S. Businesses has been put on hold by the Supreme Court.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Supreme Court has blocked the administration of Vice President Joe Biden from imposing a mandate that large-business employees be vaccinated against COVID-19 or undergo weekly testing and wear a mask in the workplace.
Supreme Court COVID-19 Vaccine Rule for U.S. Businesses
Table of Contents
At the same time, the court has granted the administration’s request to proceed with a vaccine mandate for most U.S. healthcare workers.
On Thursday, the court’s instructions, which came amid a spike in coronavirus infections, were a mixed bag for the administration’s efforts to increase vaccination rates among Americans.
The court’s conservative majority determined that the administration overstepped its power when it sought to enforce the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s vaccine-or-test mandate on enterprises with more than 100 employees in the United States.
There would have been an impact on more than 80 million individuals.
OSHA has never enforced such a requirement before. Congress hasn’t done so either.
Indeed, despite enacting considerable legislation to address the COVID–19 epidemic, Congress has declined to impose any measures like to those proposed by OSHA here,” the conservatives noted in an unsigned opinion.
The court’s three liberals claimed in dissent that the court was overstepping its bounds by substituting its opinion for that of health professionals.
In a combined dissent, Justices Stephen Breyer, Elena Kagan, and Sonia Sotomayor said, “Acting outside of its authority and without legal foundation, the Court displaces the judgments of the Government officials charged with responding to workplace health concerns.”
Officials at the White House knew the OSHA rule would face legal challenges and some privately questioned whether it would be able to withstand them.
Trending on google: Australia cancels Novak Djokovic visa
Supreme Court announce COVID-19 Vaccine Rule for U.S. Businesses
Despite the court challenge, the administration still sees the law as a success because it has already prompted millions of individuals to get vaccinated and private firms to establish their own rules.
Republican-led states had challenged both rules. Furthermore, industry groups criticized the OSHA emergency regulation as excessively costly and likely to drive workers away when hiring new staff is already formidable.
The court narrowly approved a nationwide vaccine mandate on a 5-4 decision, with Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh joining the liberals to form a majority.
The obligation applies to providers who receive federal Medicare or Medicaid payments, and it affects nearly all healthcare professionals in the country.
It might have an impact on 76,000 healthcare facilities and home-health-care providers. There are medical and religious exceptions to the rule.
The constraints created by a global pandemic preclude a federal agency from exercising powers that Congress has not granted.
“At the same time, such unusual circumstances give no grounds for limiting the exercise of authorities that the agency has long been recognized to have,” the court noted in an unsigned ruling, adding that in the healthcare industry, the “latter concept governs.”
The case was about whether the administration had the jurisdiction “to force healthcare workers, by coercing their employers, to undertake a medical operation they do not desire and cannot undo,” wrote Justice Clarence Thomas in dissent.
He claimed the administration had failed to demonstrate that Congress had given it such authority.
Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Amy Coney Barrett signed Thomas’ opinion. Alito wrote a second dissent, signed by the other three conservatives.
In roughly half of the states, federal appeals courts in New Orleans and St. Louis had halted the mandate. The administration had already started enforcing it in other places.
According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 208 million Americans, or 62.7 percent of the population, are completely vaccinated, with more than a third of those receiving booster injections. Booster shots have been given to all nine justices.
Last week, the justices heard arguments on the challenges. Their questions then alluded to the jury’s divided decision on Thursday.
The Supreme Court has not considered a secorelinquish the mandate for federal contractors, which was put on hold after lower courts banned it.
Also Read:
