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Supreme Court Hears Major Challenges to Biden’s Vaccine Mandates
Challengers say the administration exceeded its authority in requiring vaccines or testing at large employers and mandating vaccines for many health care workers.
Politics
The Supreme Court is hearing arguments on Friday on the legality of two initiatives at the heart of the Biden administration’s efforts to address the coronavirus in the workplace through vaccine mandates.
The challengers — states led by Republican officials, businesses, religious groups and others — say Congress has not authorized the measures, adding that they are unnecessary and in some ways counterproductive.
The administration says that workplace safety and health care laws have given it ample authority to take bold action in the face of a lethal pandemic.
The more sweeping of the two measures, directed at businesses with 100 or more employees, would impose a vaccine-or-testing mandate on more than 84 million workers. The administration estimated that the rule would cause 22 million people to get vaccinated and prevent 250,000 hospitalizations.
The other measure requires workers at hospitals and other health care facilities that participate in the Medicare and Medicaid programs to be vaccinated against the coronavirus. The requirement would affect more than 17 million workers, the administration said, and would “save hundreds or even thousands of lives each month.”
The Supreme Court remains closed to the public, but the justices are hearing the arguments in person, except for Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who was participating remotely from her chamber. The court is providing a live audio feed on its website.
All of the justices are fully vaccinated and have received a booster shot, a court spokeswoman said.
The Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld state vaccine mandates in a variety of settings against constitutional challenges. The cases before the court are different, as they primarily present the question of whether Congress has authorized the executive branch to institute the requirements.