The Supreme Court announced Wednesday December 22nd that it will hold a special hearing next month to hear oral arguments and will consider challenges to the Biden administration’s pandemic efforts affecting millions of workers. This is the federal nationwide vaccine and testing requirement for large employers (with 100+ employees), and a separate coronavirus vaccine mandate for health-care workers.
It is very unusual for the justices to schedule hearings on emergency requests; however, that is exactly what the court will do on January 7th, three days prior to the scheduled effective date of the vaccine mandates. Twenty-seven states and numerous business associations and religious groups filed more than a dozen petitions with the court for emergency action to block the OSHA rules, which would cover an estimated 80 million U.S. workers.
The arguments to be heard by the court challenge the Biden Administration’s authority to force employers and other entities to require employees to become vaccinated. A common belief amongst those petitioning the court to prevent the mandate from taking effect is that the executive branch cannot be allowed to usurp the power of the legislative branch to make laws, and therefore the President lacks the power conferred by the Constitution to do so.
So, this matter is not settled just yet. In fact, it is where many thought or hoped it would end up, the Supreme Court.
Standby for more updates from the LL Roberts Group regarding this historic constitutional challenge and the fate of the vaccine mandate.
