US supreme court to hear arguments on federal vaccine mandate for employers – live
LIVE – Updated at 15:19
The Biden administration’s Covid vaccination requirement for businesses with more than 100 workers and healthcare facilities has been challenged.
Justice Stephen Breyer asked, “How could it not be in the public’s interest?”
Breyer: “There were ¾ of a million new cases yesterday”
“That’s ten times as many as when OSHA put this rule in.”
— Lawrence Hurley (@lawrencehurley)
Breyer, J.: “Are you really asking this Court… to issue a stay from taking effect. Like issue a stay today? …there were three-quarter of a million new cases yesterday that was ten times more than when OSHA put in this ruling, the hospitals are full…”
— Anthony Michael Kreis (@AnthonyMKreis)
Wow. One of the attorneys arguing against the federal vaccine mandate is presenting his case to the supreme court remotely today because he tested positive for Covid-19.
Ohio SG Ben Flowers tested positive for Covid, per @KimberlyRobinsn. That’s why he’s arguing remotely today against Biden workplace vaccine rule. His office says he originally tested positive after Christmas and virus was still detected yesterday.
— Greg Stohr (@GregStohr)
Justice Elena Kagan asks why this current situation – the coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 832,000 people in the US – doesn’t count as “necessary and grave”.
Kagan: “Mr. Keller, I don’t understand the point. … Whatever ‘necessary’ means, whatever ‘grave’ means …” why isn’t this it?
— Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner)
“What else should be done?” Kagan asked. “It’s obvious the policy that’s geared to preventing the most sickness and death and the agency has done everything but stand on its head to show that no other policy will prevent sickness and death like this one will.”
The supreme court is now in session.
During today’s oral arguments over Biden vaccine policies, Sonia Sotomayor will participate from her chambers remotely, and two of the six lawyers will argue by telephone, a court spokesperson says.
— SCOTUSblog (@SCOTUSblog)
Load Error
US supreme court to hear vaccine mandate arguments
Greetings, live blog readers. Congrats on making it through the first week of the new year.
We kick off today with the supreme court set to begin hearing arguments from Republican state officials and business groups seeking to block the federal vaccine mandate for employers with more than 100 workers and a similar requirement for healthcare facilities.
The at least two hours of arguments for the two cases are scheduled to start at 10am local time. Because of pandemic protocols, the building is closed to the public, but we will be streaming the oral arguments here.
To recap: last year the Biden administration put in place a mandate requiring that all employers with more than 100 workers and all healthcare facilities must ensure that all their workers are either fully vaccinated or tested on at least a weekly basis. Joe Biden has argued that these policies will strengthen the economy and save lives.
Conservatives in particular balked at the mandate, calling it an overreach of authority, especially as these requirements were not authorized by Congress.
But the lower courts have been divided on the issue, reports the Washington Post. The US court of appeals for the fifth circuit blocked enforcement of the mandate soon after the administration announced the policy for private companies in November. Then the US court of appeals for the sixth circuit dissolved the fifth circuit’s stay, and allowed the rules to go into effect.
The cases involving the mandate for employers with more than 100 workers are National Federation of Independent Business v. Department of Labor and Ohio v Department of Labor, and have been consolidated, as have the the cases involving the mandate for healthcare facilities – Biden v Missouri and Becerra v Louisiana.
Source: Thanks msn.com