Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Biden's Vaccine Mandates To Get Special Supreme Court Hearing On January 7
CNN: Supreme Court Schedules January 7 Oral Arguments In Challenges To Biden Vaccine Mandates
The Supreme Court said Wednesday it is scheduling oral arguments for January 7 in the cases challenging the Biden administration's Covid-19 vaccine requirements for large employers and certain health care workers. The arguments were scheduled after Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh were asked to intervene in lower court disputes over the mandates. Kavanaugh had been asked by challengers to the employer mandate to reverse an appeals court ruling that said the administration could enforce its vaccine-or-testing rules for large companies. (Sneed and de Vogue, 12/22)
The Washington Post: Supreme Court Sets Special Hearing For Biden's Vaccine Rules For Health-Care Workers, Private Businesses
It is highly unusual for the justices to schedule such hearings on emergency requests. Both will be considered Jan. 7, the Friday before the court was to resume its normal schedule of oral arguments. One of the cases involves a rule from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) that requires employers with 100 or more workers to have staff vaccinated or tested on a regular basis. The other is from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and it requires vaccination for workers at facilities that receive federal funds tied to those programs. (Barnes, 12/22)
Fox News: Supreme Court To Hear Oral Arguments On Challenges To Biden Vaccine Mandates
Several Republican-led states, businesses, and other opponents have put Biden's mandates in legal limbo for weeks, with federal courts having halted their enforcement pending the outcome of the legal challenges. ... "The reasoning across the cases is basically the same, which is that these statutes don’t give the president or the agency in question the authority to issue the mandates," said Gregory Magarian, a constitutional law professor at Washington University in St. Louis. (Lee, 12/22)
