Supreme Court blocks Biden administration’s COVID-19 vaccine rule for businesses

The Supreme Court ruled that under the law that created OSHA it "empowers the Secretary to set workplace safety standards, not broad public health measures."

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While the Biden administration tried to enforce a requirement that employees at large businesses be vaccinated against COVID-19, or go through weekly testing, and wear a mask, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled against the government. The Supreme Court concluded that the Biden administration overstepped its authority.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) vaccine-or-test rule went into effect on Monday for employees at businesses with at least 100 employees affecting more than 80 million people, according to NewsNation.

“OSHA has never before imposed such a mandate,” the court ruled. “Nor has Congress. Indeed, although Congress has enacted significant legislation addressing the COVID–19 pandemic, it has declined to enact any measure similar to what OSHA has promulgated here.”

The Supreme Court ruled that under the law that created OSHA it “empowers the Secretary to set workplace safety standards, not broad public health measures.”

“Although COVID-19 is a risk that occurs in many workplaces, it is not an occupational hazard in most,” the Court ruled. “COVID–19 can and does spread at home, in schools, during sporting events, and everywhere else that people gather. That kind of universal risk is no different from the day-to-day dangers that all face from crime, air pollution, or any number of communicable diseases.”

As part of the hearing, the Supreme Court heard Biden v. Missouri and ruled in favor of the Health and Human Services’ mandate that requires all healthcare providers that receive federal Medicare or Medicaid funding get the COVID-19 vaccine, affecting 76,000 health care facilities as well as home health care providers, NewsNation reported.

“Healthcare facilities that wish to participate in Medicare and Medicaid have always been obligated to satisfy a host of conditions that address the safe and effective provision of healthcare, not simply sound accounting,” the court said.

This was the first time the Supreme Court “weighed in on” the Biden administration’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

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Ashley is an editor, social media content manager and writer at NationofChange. Before joining NoC, she was a features reporter at The Daily Breeze – a local newspaper in Southern California – writing a variety of stories on current topics including politics, the economy, human rights, the environment and the arts. Ashley is a transplant from the East Coast calling Los Angeles home.

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