The United States Supreme Court has blocked President Joe Biden administration’s Covid-19 vaccine-or-testing rules for large businesses.
The court held that allowing the mandate was a significant encroachment on the lives and health of a vast number of employees and that the mandate was not an ordinary use of federal power.
According to Reuters, the court ruled 6-3, with the six conservative justices in the majority and three liberal justices dissenting, in blocking the rule involving large businesses.
What happened in court
Recall Nairametrics had reported last Friday that the vaccine-or-testing requirement for businesses with at least 100 employees was faced with more skepticism than the vaccination requirement for healthcare workers.
The court which endorsed the vaccine mandate of a vaccination requirement for certain healthcare workers blocked the OSHA mandate of vaccine-or-testing mandate for large employers.
The court held that “Permitting OSHA to regulate the hazards of daily life simply because most Americans have jobs and face those same risks while on the clock would significantly expand OSHA’s regulatory authority without clear congressional authorization,”
Scott Keller, while arguing on behalf of the business groups, had told the court that the OSHA mandate will likely harm the U.S. workforce if employees quit over these vaccine mandates. He told the court that the vaccine rules would exacerbate labour shortages and be costly to businesses.
The Biden’s administration argued that the vaccine mandates are important for the safety of workers and healthcare providers during the pandemic. They asked the justices to lift lower court orders blocking the CMS mandate in half the 50 states of the United States.
In case you missed it
Nairametrics had reported last Friday that the Nine justices heard an Oral Argument to deliberate the fate of President Joe Biden administration’s vaccine mandates.
What you should know
The justices lifted the order by the federal judges at Missouri and Louisiana blocking the policy in 24 states.
The OSHA mandate will affect 80 million employees in the United States.
While the vaccine-or-testing mandate for large employers had a 6-3 vote, the vaccination requirement for certain healthcare workers has a 5-4 vote among the 9 justices of the Supreme Court.