Will the U.S. Supreme Court Vote in Favor of Blocking the OSHA Mandate?

We’re all well aware of the Biden administration’s COVID protection mandates, and how absurd they are getting.

It’s gotten to the point where these mandates are being questioned by the U.S. Supreme Court, which has been asked to block the restrictions and mandates. 

This past Friday, U.S. Supreme Court Justices heard arguments for several cases that questioned Biden’s ability to call for pandemic-related vaccine or testing mandates against large businesses. 

The court’s conservatives, who hold a majority of 6-3 have shown skepticism towards these mandates. 

Challengers argue that the federal government has abused its authority by imposing pandemic-related mandates that haven’t been authorized by Congress and don’t follow the proper administrative processes that are required when issuing an emergency regulation. 

The court justices – all of which are vaccinated – have been asked to block the administration’s enforcements before Monday.

This is not the first time the federal authority has been questioned. Just last year, the Supreme Court ended a moratorium on evictions that was imposed by the CDC, saying that it was beyond the agency’s authority. 

The rules in question were imposed by the labor department and The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and would affect businesses with at least 100 workers – installing a policy that would require all employees to be vaccinated or be subjected to weekly COVID testing and mandatory masking.

There are some exceptions for employees who work off-site, or secluded, and also for religious and medical reasons. 

Appeals have been filed in virtually every regional court in the country against the OSHA requirement, the deadline of which has been relaxed until Feb. 9.

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost (R) calls the OSHA requirement “a historically unprecedented administrative command.”

“This case does not present the question whether vaccines or vaccine mandates are wise or desirable,” he wrote. “Instead, it presents the narrow questions whether OSHA had the authority to issue the mandate, and whether it lawfully exercised whatever authority it had.”

On Monday, the justices docketed more than 10 emergency applications to stop the ruling, and since then there has been a lot of back and forth on the matter of what they are and aren’t allowed to do.

Judge Jane B. Stranch said that it has always been the intention by Congress for OSHA to have the authority to impose emergency temporary standards when they are absolutely needed.

“Vaccination and medical examinations are both tools that OSHA has historically employed to contain illness in the workplace,” said Stranch.

The Supreme court has already refused to stop vaccine requirements for public employees, university students, and healthcare workers. Will they go the same route in this case? 

———- UPDATE ———-

The Supreme Court has announced their decision, ruling that OSHA lacked the authority to impose such mandates, on the grounds that the law that created OSHA gives them the power “to set workplace safety standards, not broad public health measures.”

There were mixed rulings on several cases, allowing the mandates for certain health care workers to go into effect while blocking other mandates against businesses with 100 or more employees.