Biden urges Supreme Court to KEEP his vaccine mandates in place

The Biden administration is urging the Supreme Court to keep in place its controversial mandate requiring large businesses either mandate Covid-19 vaccinations or test workers regularly.

The brief, filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ), came after employers and other interests groups who say the requirement is unconstitutional.

The Supreme Court will decide the fate of the mandate, which comes as an emergency order through the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), during a special hearing in January.

DOJ lawyers argued that the 1970 law that established OSHA 'falls squarely within OSHA's statutory authority.'

The mandate is scheduled to take effect next month and will cover roughly 84 million employees.

OSHA has estimated the order will save 6,500 lives and prevent around 250,000 hospitalizations over the next six months.

The high court will also decide on the lawfulness of a separate vaccine requirement for health care workers at hospitals that receive federal funding.

The brief court order said the justices will hear oral arguments on January 7 in the two cases, with rulings likely to follow swiftly after.

The court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, delayed action on emergency requests in both cases that sought an immediate decision.

The workplace mandate is currently in effect nationwide, while the health care worker mandate is blocked in half the 50 U.S. states.

An appeals court earlier this month allowed the workplace mandate, which covers 80 million American workers, to go into effect - prompting businesses, states and other groups challenging the policy to ask the Supreme Court to block it.

The other case concerns whether the administration can require health care workers at facilities that treat federally funded Medicare and Medicaid patients to receive shots while litigation continues.

The Biden administration asked the court to allow the policy to go into effect in 24 states in which it was blocked by lower courts. It is also blocked in Texas in a separate case not before the justices.

Biden in September unveiled regulations to increase the adult vaccination rate as a way of fighting the pandemic, which has killed more than 820,000 Americans and weighed on the economy.

Among the challengers are 27 mostly Republican-led states, various individual businesses and business groups, and two groups of religious entities, including the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.

Business challengers include the National Federation of Independent Business, a trade group that represents small businesses.

Last week the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati lifted a November injunction that had blocked the workplace rule from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which applies to businesses with at least 100 workers.

The health care worker rule, also challenged by mostly Republican-led states, required more than two million unvaccinated health care workers to receive a first vaccine dose by December 6.

(REUTERS)