U.S. Supreme Court to Hear Oral Arguments in Early January 2022 on Both COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates

Posted in COVID-19, Senior Living

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDP  
Clinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare

On Wednesday, December 22, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court posted the start of oral arguments on Friday, January 7, 2022, in the cases of:

“The U.S. Supreme Court said it would hear arguments on an expedited basis on President Joe Biden’s Covid-19 shot-or-test rule for large employers and his separate vaccine mandate for health-care workers.

The justices will hear both cases at a special Jan. 7 session, weighing whether to let the rules take effect in the face of a barrage of legal challenges. The cases will test the power of the federal government to tackle a pandemic that has killed more than 800,000 Americans.

The more sweeping clash involves an emergency Occupational Safety and Health Administration rule that requires employers with 100 or more workers to make them get vaccinated or be tested regularly.

The justices will hear arguments from business groups and Republican-led states. They argue that OSHA exceeded the powers Congress gave the agency and that the federal government lacks constitutional authority to issue such a sweeping mandate.

The Jan. 7 arguments will be the third expedited session of the court’s current term, joining a clash over Texas’ ban on most abortions after six weeks and a case about the role of ministers in the execution chamber.

The showdown will also mark a rare instance — and possibly the first in decades — of the court hearing arguments on an application for a stay. The court normally resolves those types of requests through written briefs alone.

The justices have been under increased scrutiny in recent months over their handling of the so-called shadow docket, the stream of emergency requests that has become a major chunk of the court’s work. Critics say the court at times doesn’t adequately explain shadow docket decisions, even when they determine the fate of important government policies.

The OSHA cases are National Federation of Independent Business v. Department of Labor, 21A244, and Ohio v. Department of Labor, 21A247. The CMS cases are Biden v. Missouri, 21A240, and Becerra v. Louisiana, 21A241.”[1]

[1] https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/supreme-court-will-hear-arguments-on-biden-vaccine-rules?campaign=531F49CA-6382-11EC-8670-FEB64F017A06&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=lawdesk