the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Washington DC, the US Supreme Court on January 7 heard nearly 4 hours of oral arguments in 2 sets of cases involving federal SARS-CoV-2 vaccine requirements. At issue are 2 federal regulations: the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) that requires all workers at firms with 100 or more employees either get vaccinated or be tested weekly and wear a mask to work (National Federation of Independent Business v. Department of Labor, No. 21A244) and a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) regulation issued by the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) requiring vaccination for nearly all workers at hospitals, nursing homes, and other medical facilities that receive federal funds through Medicare and Medicaid (Biden v. Missouri, No. 21A240). Both cases came to the court last month on an emergency basis, and the justices elected to fast-track the cases for oral arguments to determine whether the Biden administration can continue enforcement of the rules while litigation continues.