U.S. Supreme Court puts hold on workplace testing and masking mandates challenged by Ohio
WASHINGTON, D. C. — In a victory for Ohio and dozens of Republican-led states, the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday decided to put a hold on the implementation of a new federal coronavirus vaccination and testing mandate for large employers while lower courts weigh the policy’s legality. At the same time, it allowed a separate policy to go forward that requires vaccinations for most health care workers at federally funded facilities.
The decision on workplaces said that challenges to an emergency rule from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration would likely prevail on the merits of their claim that the Secretary of Labor lacks authority to impose the mandate. It said existing laws empower the Secretary of Labor to set workplace safety standards, not broad public health measures.
“Administrative agencies are creatures of statute,” said the decision by the court’s six-member conservative block. “They accordingly possess only the authority that Congress has provided. The Secretary has ordered 84 million Americans to either obtain a COVID–19 vaccine or undergo weekly medical testing at their own expense. This is no “everyday exercise of federal power.’”
Ohio Solicitor General Ben Flowers represented a coalition of 27 states last week in arguing against the law at the U.S. Supreme Court, telling the court the federal government can’t impose rules on workplaces to mitigate a risk that’s present everywhere, such as a virus. The disputed policy would require all employers with 100 or more workers to ensure their workforce is fully vaccinated and that any unvaccinated employees wear masks and submit negative COVID-19 test results each week. An attorney representing the National Federation of Independent Business also argued against the provision.
A statement from Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost praised the decision.
“Americans have lost too much to this disease already – all of us want this pandemic to end — but it is critical that we do not lose our Constitution, too,” Yost said. “Today’s ruling protects our individual rights and states’ rights to pursue the solutions that work best for their citizens.”
Ohio Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Steve Stivers also applauded the decision, saying that businesses are in the best position to set their own COVID-19 policies “because they know their employees better than anyone.”
A dissent filed by three liberal justices disagreed and said the order from their colleagues “seriously misapplies the applicable legal standards” and “stymies the Federal Government’s ability to counter the unparalleled threat that COVID–19 poses to our Nation’s workers. Acting outside of its competence and without legal basis, the Court displaces the judgments of the Government officials given the responsibility to respond to workplace health emergencies.”
The court did not stay implementation of a regulation issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that requires all employees at federally funded health care providers, such as hospitals and nursing homes, to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Exemptions are permitted for medical or religious reasons.
Among Northeast Ohio’s major health care systems, Summa, MetroHealth, Akron Children’s and Stokes VA previously required their employees to be vaccinated, University Hospitals and Cleveland Clinic did not.
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh joined the three liberals in a decision declaring the Secretary of Health and Human Services “did not exceed his statutory authority in requiring that, in order to remain eligible for Medicare and Medicaid dollars, the facilities covered by the interim rule must ensure that their employees be vaccinated against COVID–19.”
“The interim rule is not arbitrary and capricious,” it said. “Given the rule-making record, it cannot be maintained that the Secretary failed to ‘examine the relevant data and articulate a satisfactory explanation for’ his decisions to (1) impose the vaccine mandate instead of a testing mandate; (2) require vaccination of employees with ‘natural immunity’ from prior COVID–19 illness; and (3) depart from the agency’s prior approach of merely encouraging vaccination.”
The other three conservatives joined a dissent written by Justice Clarence Thomas.
“These cases are not about the efficacy or importance of COVID–19 vaccines,” Thomas wrote. “They are only about whether CMS has the statutory authority to force healthcare workers, by coercing their employers, to undergo a medical procedure they do not want and cannot undo. Because the Government has not made a strong showing that Congress gave CMS that broad authority, I would deny the stays pending appeal.”
A statement from President Joe Biden said that if his administration hadn’t imposed vaccine requirements, “we would be now experiencing a higher death toll from COVID-19 and even more hospitalizations.” It said the decision to uphold the requirement for health care workers will save the lives of patients who seek care in medical facilities, as well as the lives of doctors, nurses and other employees. The statement said it would cover 10.4 million health care workers at 76,000 medical facilities.
It expressed disappointment that the Supreme Court “has chosen to block common-sense life-saving requirements for employees at large businesses that were grounded squarely in both science and the law.
“This emergency standard allowed employers to require vaccinations or to permit workers to refuse to be vaccinated, so long as they were tested once a week and wore a mask at work: a very modest burden,” the statement said. “As a result of the Court’s decision, it is now up to States and individual employers to determine whether to make their workplaces as safe as possible for employees, and whether their businesses will be safe for consumers during this pandemic by requiring employees to take the simple and effective step of getting vaccinated.”
A statement from American Medical Association President Gerald E. Harmon said his group is pleased that the court allowed the vaccination rule for health care workers to take effect, but “deeply disappointed that the Court blocked the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) emergency temporary standard for COVID-19 vaccination and testing for large businesses from moving forward.
“Widespread use of the COVID-19 vaccines has proven to be the safest, most effective way to reduce virus transmission and public harm,” his statement said. “We continue to urge large employers to do their part to safeguard their workforces and communities so we can defeat this COVID-19 pandemic together.”
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