US president Joe Biden. File photo: POOL via REUTERS/GREG NASH
The White House has said the two temporary mandates will save lives and strengthen the US economy by increasing the number of vaccinated Americans by the millions.The court’s 6-3 conservative majority in the past has shown scepticism toward sweeping actions by federal agencies. Under the second policy under review by the Supreme Court, vaccination is required for an estimated 10.3-million workers at about 76,000 healthcare facilities, including hospitals and nursing homes, that participate in the Medicare and Medicaid government health insurance programmes for elderly, disabled and low-income Americans.
The court in other pandemic-related cases has backed religious challenges to certain restrictions and ended the federal government’s residential eviction moratorium, originally imposed under former President Donald Trump. The Cincinnati-based sixth US Circuit Court of Appeals on December 17 lifted an injunction issued by another court that had blocked the OSHA rule regarding large businesses, prompting challengers to ask the Supreme Court to intervene.