Supreme Court blocks COVID-19 vaccine-or-testing mandate for workplaces but lets medical rule stand
From the Tennessean 1/13/2022
Supreme Court blocks COVID-19 vaccine-or-testing mandate for workplaces but lets medical rule stand
Breaking News:
WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court on Thursday halted enforcement of one of President Joe Biden's signature efforts to combat COVID-19, ruling that his administration doesn't have the authority to impose sweeping vaccine-or-testing requirements for employers that would have covered tens of millions of Americans.
The unsigned opinion, which came days after the justices heard arguments in the emergency appeal, marked the second time the nation's highest court had unwound a key pandemic policy of the Biden administration, once again concluding that federal officials had exceeded the power given to them by Congress. The court in August blocked Biden's eviction moratorium, ruling that it, too, amounted to government overreach.
"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 court wrote. "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 decision drew a dissent from the court's three liberal justices.
But the court in a second unsigned opinion permitted another vaccine mandate on people employed at health care facilities that receive federal funding through Medicare and Medicaid. That measure, which takes effect this month, is estimated to affect 10 million workers.
Biden announced policies in November that cover employers with more than 100 workers, health sites and federal contractors. Large employers were required to stand up vaccine or weekly testing programs or face penalties of nearly $14,000 per violation. The Labor Department said it could begin enforcing some parts of that rule as soon as Monday.
Officials pushed back enforcement of the vaccine-or-testing mandate until Feb. 9.
At issue in the large employer case is whether Congress gave the Occupational Safety and Health Administration authority to require vaccines or testing in a 1970 law. The law permits the agency to set an emergency rule when a "grave danger" exists that could expose workers to "substances or agents determined to be toxic or physically harmful or from new hazards." Biden officials argued COVID-19 presents just such a danger.
But a majority of the court signaled during oral arguments that it questioned whether Congress could have foreseen the law being used to address a pandemic. Several members of the court's conservative bloc said the matter should be left to states unless Congress approves a more specific authorization for such mandates.
"If there is an ambiguity, why isn't this a major question that therefore belongs to the people's representatives in the states and in the halls of Congress?" Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch asked in a line of argument echoed by Chief Justice John Roberts.
The liberal justices countered that agencies are better positioned than courts to make assessments about rapidly shifting public health emergencies. The legal wrangling is occurring as the omicron variant has sent cases skyrocketing and inundated hospitals.
"It's an extraordinary use of emergency power occurring in an extraordinary circumstance, a circumstance that this country has never faced before," Associate Justice Elena Kagan said. "By this point, two years later, we know that the best way to prevent spread is for people to get vaccinated."