Supreme Court To Hear COVID Vaccine Mandate Arguments on January 7

On December 17, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati overturned a stay on the Biden administration’s OSHA Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) which mandates employers enforce a COVID-19 vaccine mandate. 

After that court decision, 27 states filed emergency motions with the Supreme Court to block enforcement efforts. Now, on January 7, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments from the petitioners.

The timeline on these actions are tight—while arguments are heard on January 7, that’s three days before the enforcement efforts by OSHA are scheduled to start, including the requirement for employers to determine the vaccination status of each employee and develop a written policy. OSHA has announced the start date for the testing requirement was extended to Feb. 9.

The emergency appeals from the 6th Circuit are assigned to Justice Brett Kavanaugh, but it’s reported that likely he will refer those to the full Supreme Court. 

The Supreme Court will be hearing arguments regarding the lower-court decisions on the OSHA ETS and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) healthcare-facility vaccine mandate.

Specific to the OSHA ETS, it requires businesses with at least 100 employees to ensure employees are vaccinated against COVID-19 or undergo weekly testing for the virus.

Eleven states (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, North Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia) have taken steps with measures that would restrict federal vaccination requirements.

ARA members can have their policy/regulatory questions answered by the ARA team via the DC Help Desk.