Case closed on Biden administration’s employer vaccination mandate

The U.S. Supreme Court split the difference on the two vaccination mandate cases before the court. The Occupational Safety and Health Administrations (OSHA) emergency temporary standard to vaccinate-or-test for employers with over 100 employees has been struck down, but the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) vaccination mandate for certain employees at hospitals, nursing homes and other health care providers that receive federal funds was upheld.

As reported by NPR, the court ruled 6 to 3, along ideological lines, against the vaccine-or-test regulation. “Although Congress has indisputably given OSHA the power to regulate occupational dangers, it has not given that agency the power to regulate public health more broadly,” the majority said in an unsigned opinion. “Requiring the vaccination of 84 million Americans, selected simply because they work for employers with more than 100 employees, certainly falls in the latter category.”

In the CMS case, the court voted 5 to 4. A key difference the court said is the federal agency has long imposed detailed regulations as a condition for health care providers receiving federal funds.