Despite skepticism from conservative justices, the White House said it remains confident that rules requiring vaccines or weekly testing for some 100 million workers are legal.
The Supreme Court heard arguments from two vaccine-related cases Friday pertaining to mandates, one for workplaces with 100 or more employees and the other for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. While deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre didn’t comment on what judges said, she expressed optimism the mandate would stand.
SUPREME COURT JUSTICES APPEAR DIVIDED OVER VACCINE REQUIREMENTS FOR BIG BUSINESSES
“We are confident in our legal authority, as we’ve been stating for these past several months,” she said during an Air Force One press gaggle en route to Colorado, where President Joe Biden is scheduled to survey wildfire damage.
Supreme Court justices appeared divided during an oral argument from plaintiffs who challenge Biden’s mandates just days before they’re slated to take effect. Jean-Pierre stressed that unvaccinated workers pose a danger to themselves and others, which the requirements would alleviate.
“Unvaccinated Americans continue to face a real threat of severe illness and death, including from [the omicron variant],” she said. “The OSHA rule ensures that employers are protecting their employees by encouraging workers to get vaccinated and requiring unvaccinated workers to mask and test.”
Similarly, rules for healthcare workers would protect both themselves and their patients, Jean-Pierre argued.
“The CMS healthcare rule protects vulnerable patients by requiring that covered healthcare providers get vaccinated,” she said. “The views of the relevant voices across the spectrum, ranging from the American Medical Association to the AFL-CIO [union], is that the need and the urgency for these policies is greater than ever.”
During arguments over the OSHA rule, Justice Elena Kagan questioned why vaccines shouldn’t be mandated in workplace settings.
“Why isn’t this necessary to evade a grave risk?” Kagan asked, adding the pandemic has caused mass numbers of people to become sick and others to die.
But conservative justices expressed reservations.
In the second case, Justice Brett Kavanaugh homed in on the fact CMS previously has not required flu shots — a decision left up to individual states in the past.
The administration’s healthcare worker mandate is presently blocked in 24 states due to a Missouri federal court order. Regarding individual state cases the Supreme Court has taken up over healthcare personnel requirements, justices have upheld a number of vaccine requirements, such as in Maine and New York.
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The mandates are set to take partial effect on Monday, and the Supreme Court has not indicated when a decision will be made regarding either of the hearings.
