The Supreme Court considers in an unusual session Biden's vaccination mandates and mask requirements

By Pete Williams -

The Supreme Court is meeting this Friday in a highly unusual session to hear arguments about two measures by the Biden Administration aimed at helping stop the spread of COVID-19 in the nation's work spaces.

The judges were not scheduled to return to the courtroom until January 10, but at the end of last month they agreed to address emergency appeals related to federal COVID-19 vaccination or testing requirements for large companies and the mandate of vaccination for some healthcare workers.

[Los Angeles businesses must provide masks to their workers]

In recent months, the court has refused to block vaccination mandates for Indiana University students, New York professors, and Maine, Massachusetts and New York healthcare workers.

These were rules imposed by states, which have broader authorities, known as police powers, to protect public health.

But in the last legislature, the court said federal law did not allow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to impose a ban on evictions across the country.

The cases to be heard on Friday have to do with the specific authorities of two other federal agencies.

The court will study whether the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has legal power to require companies with 100 or more employees to ensure that their employees are vaccinated or that unvaccinated workers carry face masks and test negative for COVID-19 at least once a week.

Employees who work at home, alone, or outdoors are exempt.

States and businesses that oppose the standard sued it, arguing that Congress never gave OSHA the authority to issue such a broad requirement at the national level.

In a flood of legal briefs, they alleged to the Supreme Court that the rule will force thousands of workers to resign and seek work in smaller companies to avoid vaccination or coronavirus testing requirements.

[A record 4,000 children are hospitalized amid spike in COVID-19 cases by omicron]

Some companies will have no choice but to fire vaccinated workers to remain solvent, according to a brief submitted by a coalition of bakery, transportation and chemical companies.

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"The mandate will cause immediate shortages in grocery stores, shortages of household and commercial products, and languishing failures in critical infrastructure," the brief said.

But the Justice Department told the court that Congress has given OSHA the authority to impose emergency standards, since it already determines when employees are exposed to serious danger from toxins determined to be physically harmful.

COVID-19 clearly meets that test, given that it has already killed more than 800,000 people in the United States, according to the government.

[USA.

exceeds one million cases a day and Biden stresses the importance of getting vaccinated to avoid "dying unnecessarily"]

OSHA estimates that the requirement will save more than 6,500 lives and prevent 250,000 hospitalizations in the next six months.

The judges will also hear challenges during Friday's argument session to a separate federal rule requiring vaccination of healthcare workers treating Medicare and Medicaid patients.

Two federal appeals courts blocked its application in 24 states, but it is in effect in the remaining 26.

States that oppose the requirement say federal law gives the secretary of Health and Human Services authority to enforce general health and safety standards for facilities such as hospitals, but that does not include the power to require employees to be vaccinated. .

The agency that administers Medicare and Medicaid has never required vaccination before.

Six-year-old Eric Aviles receives the COVID-19 vaccine from pharmacist Sylvia Uong at a pediatric clinic at Willard Middle School in Santa Ana, Calif., On Tuesday, November 9, 2021.Jae C. Hong / AP

Cherry County Hospital in Valentine, Nebraska, for example, expects 50 of its 159 employees to leave their jobs, according to a brief filed by Douglas Peterson, the state attorney general, and Eric Schmitt, the Missouri attorney general.

Rather than improve the quality of care, the rule "threatens to create a crisis in health centers in rural America," where vaccination rates among health workers are the lowest, according to the brief.

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But the Justice Department, in its brief filed with the court, said the health secretary has broad authority to impose the requirements necessary to protect the health and safety of patients.

"It is difficult to imagine a more paradigmatic health and safety condition than requiring that workers in hospitals, nursing homes and other medical facilities take the measure that most effectively prevents the transmission of a deadly virus to vulnerable patients," the department said. .

White House press secretary Jen Psaki argued Thursday that the Administration's COVID-19 requirements are vital tools in the fight against the pandemic.

"The need and urgency for these policies is greater than ever, and we trust the legal authority of both policies," Psaki said in a statement.

[Why do children need the COVID-19 vaccine?]

Biden's third vaccination requirement, for federal contractors, is on hold nationwide, blocked by order of a Georgia federal judge.