As the U.S. Supreme Court decision on President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate shows, the nation’s highest court has a full docket of important issues this term. Justices will weigh in on cases that could affect people’s right to an abortion, their possession of firearms outside their home, and their free exercise of religion.
The high court last week ruled on President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandates—a case that had garnered much attention in recent weeks as the omicron variant reignites the COVID-19 pandemic. The court on Thursday blocked one of Biden’s private sector vaccine mandates, implemented amid a rise in COVID-19 cases, while allowing another requirement to stand.
There were two requirements in question, one overseen by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the other through the Department of Health and Human Services and its Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The former, which the high court struck down, required that all companies with more than 100 employees enforce a rule that their workers get the vaccine or else be tested on a weekly basis. The latter, which the court let stand, requires health-care workers at facilities that get Medicare or Medicaid funding be vaccinated.
