Supreme Court Strikes Down Vaccine Rule For Private Employees, Allows Mandate For Health Workers
A 6-3 majority said that OSHA likely does not have the power to set a vaccinate-or-test requirement for private businesses — one that would have impacted an estimated 84 million workers. In the other case, the Supreme Court did allow CMS' rule to proceed that mandates the covid vaccine for the 10 million health professionals who work at a medical facility that gets federal funding.
AP:
Supreme Court Halts COVID-19 Vaccine Rule For US Businesses
The Supreme Court has stopped a major push by the Biden administration to boost the nation’s COVID-19 vaccination rate, a requirement that employees at large businesses get a vaccine or test regularly and wear a mask on the job. At the same time, the court is allowing the administration to proceed with a vaccine mandate for most health care workers in the U.S. The court’s orders Thursday came during a spike in coronavirus cases caused by the omicron variant. (Sherman and Gresko, 1/13)
NPR:
Supreme Court Blocks Biden's Vaccine-Or-Test Mandate For Large Private Companies
The vote to invalidate the vaccine-or-test regulation was 6 to 3, along ideological lines. "Although Congress has indisputably given OSHA the power to regulate occupational dangers, it has not given that agency the power to regulate public health more broadly," the majority said in an unsigned opinion. "Requiring the vaccination of 84 million Americans, selected simply because they work for employers with more than 100 employees, certainly falls in the latter category." The regulation struck down by the court would have applied to more than 80 million private sector employees and would have required all businesses with 100 or more workers to either be vaccinated, with the federal government footing the bill, or be tested weekly. (Totenberg, 1/13)
NBC News:
Supreme Court Blocks Biden Admin's Covid Requirements For Workplaces, Allows Vaccine Mandate For Health Care Workers
In their dissent, the three liberal justices on the court said OSHA was well within its authority and expertise to impose the mandates, unlikes the court, which they said was "lacking any knowledge of how to safeguard workplaces, and insulated from responsibility for any damage it causes." "In the face of a still-raging pandemic, this court tells the agency charged with protecting worker safety that it may not do so in all the workplaces needed," the justices wrote. "As disease and death continue to mount, this court tells the agency that it cannot respond in the most effective way possible. Without legal basis, the court usurps a decision that rightfully belongs to others. It undercuts the capacity of the responsible federal officials, acting well within the scope of their authority, to protect American workers from grave danger." (Williams, 1/13)
Modern Healthcare:
Supreme Court Allows Healthcare Worker Vaccine Mandate To Continue
Conservatives Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh joined three liberal —Justices Stephen Breyer, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor—in a 5-4 ruling that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services vaccine requirement for healthcare workers could resume. "The challenges posed by a global pandemic do not allow a federal agency to exercise power that Congress has not conferred upon it. At the same time, such unprecedented circumstances provide no grounds for limiting the exercise of authorities the agency has long been recognized to have," the majority opinion says. (Goldman, 1/13)
The Washington Post:
Supreme Court Blocks Biden's Covid Vaccine Rules For Businesses, Allows Mandate For Health-Care Workers Proceed
The court’s orders, issued after an emergency hearing Friday, might seem like a split decision. But the OSHA vaccine-or-test requirement would have applied to 84 million people. The requirement for health-care workers covers about 10 million. Approximately 63 percent of the country is fully vaccinated, according to estimates. The Biden administration had hoped the OSHA requirements would compel upward of an additional 20 million to get the shots and estimated there were more than 2 million holdouts among the health-care workers, distributed unevenly across the country. (Barnes, 1/13)
Bloomberg:
Biden's OSHA Vaccine Mandate Blocked By Supreme Court
The OSHA ruling limits Biden’s options for increasing the country’s vaccination rate as the omicron variant propels a spike in cases. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says only 63% of the country is fully vaccinated and of that group just 37% have received a booster shot. More than 800,000 people in the U.S. have died from the virus. ... The decision is a victory for 26 business groups and 27 Republican-led states that sued to challenge the OSHA policy, saying it exceeded the workplace-safety agency’s authority. (Stohr, 1/13)
The New York Times:
Supreme Court Blocks Biden’s Vaccine Mandate For Large Employers
The president welcomed the ruling in his favor, saying in a statement that it would save the lives of health care workers and patients. But he said he was disappointed that the court had overturned the employer mandate, which he said was “grounded squarely in both science and the law.” In both the employer and health worker cases, the justices explored whether Congress had authorized the executive branch to take sweeping actions to address the health care crisis. (Liptak, 1/13)
The Wall Street Journal:
Supreme Court Blocks Biden Vaccine Rules For Large Employers
President Biden in a written statement said the high court’s decision to allow the healthcare vaccine mandate “will save lives,” but he expressed disappointment that the court blocked “common-sense life-saving requirements for employees at large businesses that were grounded squarely in both science and the law.” (Kendall and Bravin, 1/13)
KHN:
Justices Block Broad Worker Vaccine Requirement, Allow Health Worker Mandate To Proceed
The OSHA rules are opposed by many business groups, led by the small business advocacy organization the National Federation of Independent Business. It argued that allowing the rules to take effect would leave businesses “irreparably harmed,” both by the costs of compliance and the possibility that workers would quit rather than accept the vaccine. The challenge to the Medicare and Medicaid rules, by contrast, came mostly from states, rather than the hospitals, nursing homes and other facilities most directly affected. State officials charge that the rules would jeopardize the ability of health care providers, particularly those in rural areas, to retain enough staffers to care for patients. (Rovner, 1/13)
