The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday blocked President Joe Biden's COVID-19 vaccination-or-testing mandate for large businesses - a policy the conservative justices deemed an improper imposition on the lives and health of many Americans - while endorsing a separate federal vaccine requirement for healthcare facilities, as reported by Reuters.
Biden voiced disappointment with the conservative-majority court's decision to halt his administration's rule affecting businesses with at least 100 workers, saying it now is up to states and employers to decide whether to require workers "to take the simple and effective step of getting vaccinated."
The court was divided in both cases, centering on federal regulations tailored to try to tame the pandemic at a time of escalating coronavirus infections in a nation that leads the world in COVID-19 deaths and cases. It ruled 6-3 with the six conservative justices in the majority and three liberal justices dissenting in blocking the rule for large businesses - a policy that applied to more than 80 million employees.
The vote was 5-4 to allow the healthcare worker rule, which requires vaccination for about 10.3 million workers at 76,000 healthcare facilities including hospitals and nursing homes that accept money from the Medicare and Medicaid government health insurance programs for elderly, disabled and low-income Americans. Two conservatives, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh, joined the liberals in the majority in that case.
In a statement, Biden said the court's decision allowing the healthcare worker mandate "will save lives" and that his administration will enforce it. Workers must be vaccinated by the end of February under the mandate.
The court acted after hearing arguments last Friday in the legal fight over temporary mandates issued in November by two federal agencies aimed at increasing U.S. vaccination rates and making workplaces and healthcare settings safer. The cases tested presidential powers to address a swelling public health crisis that already has killed more than 845,000 Americans.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued the rule affecting large businesses required vaccines or weekly COVID-19 tests for employees. The court's unsigned ruling said this rule was not an ordinary use of federal power.
"It is instead a significant encroachment on the lives - and health - of a vast number of employees," the court said.
The court's majority downplayed the risk COVID-19 specifically poses in the workplace, comparing it instead to "day-to-day" crime and pollution hazards that individuals face everywhere.
"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," the court said.
National construction industry trade association, Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC), said they applaud the U.S. Supreme Court for reinstating the stay. "On behalf of the construction industry, ABC filed one of the emergency appeals to the Supreme Court leading to this successful outcome."
"ABC is pleased that the Supreme Court blocked OSHA's COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing ETS," said Ben Brubeck, ABC vice president of Regulatory, Labor and State Affairs. "ABC is proud to have played an important role in preventing OSHA from causing irreparable harm to the construction industry."
On November 9, ABC and its Alabama chapter filed a petition for review with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit against the OSHA ETS. ABC filed an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court to stay the ETS on December 20.
