Today, the United State Supreme Court will hear challenges to President Joe Biden’s recent executive order mandating vaccines for workers.
The mandate would require large private employers to mandate vaccines for their employees, otherwise employees would need to wear masks and submit to weekly testing.
The Biden administration cites its authority through the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which states it can enact emergency rules to protect workers from “substances or agents determined to be toxic or physically harmful or from new hazards.”
However, many conservatives have pushed back against the order, stating that the administration is overextending its power.
Initially, the ruling was to go into effect this week, but the deadline has been pushed to February 9 due to the legal battles it has faced.
Additionally, another mandate that would apply to healthcare workers at federally funded facilities is up in the air.
This order through the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services would require the over 75,000 facilities receiving federal funding to mandate a Covid-19 vaccine for employees.
Some have opposed this order, stating that Congress is the only governmental entity with the power to approve this type of mandate.
The Supreme Court will hear both matters through cases that are undecided by lower courts. Although they will not rule whether the Biden administration’s mandates are “lawful,” they will weigh in on whether the order can begin being implemented before the legal battles against them are solved.
