The US Supreme Court on Monday turned away an appeal from Missouri and nine other states challenging Joe Biden’s federal vaccine mandate for healthcare workers.
Last November Joe Biden imposed a federal vaccine mandate on all healthcare workers that affected 10.4 million people.
In January of this year the US Supreme Court blocked Joe Biden’s OSHA vax mandate for private businesses with 100+ employees.
In a separate, simultaneously released ruling, the highest court of the land – in a 5-4 vote – allowed a similar vaccine mandate for healthcare facilities that receive Medicaid and Medicare to stand.
Conservative Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Amy Coney Barrett and Clarence Thomas dissented earlier this year.
“These cases are not about the efficacy or importance of COVID-19 vaccines. 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. I respectfully dissent.” Justice Thomas wrote in his dissenting opinion earlier this year.
Missouri and nine other states appealed to the Supreme Court after the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals bounced the case back to a federal court.
On its first session back Monday, the Supreme Court declined the challenge in an unsigned opinion.
Fox News reported:
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a challenge to the federal vaccine mandate for healthcare workers.
On its first day back in session, the Supreme Court declined to hear an argument from Missouri as well as nine other states – Nebraska, Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming – opposing the COVID-19 vaccine mandate implemented by President Biden’s administration for workers in all healthcare facilities that receive federal funding, Reuters reported.
In April, the St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sent the case back to a federal judge to proceed to a trial, but Missouri then appealed to the Supreme Court.
The justices turned away the appeal on Monday.
In an unsigned opinion, the court wrote: “The challenges posed by a global pandemic do not allow a federal agency to exercise power that Congress has not conferred upon it. At the same time, such unprecedented circumstances provide no grounds for limiting the exercise of authorities the agency has long been recognized to have.” It said the “latter principle governs” in the healthcare arena.
Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in dissent that the case was about whether the administration has the authority “to force healthcare workers, by coercing their employers, to undergo a medical procedure they do not want and cannot undo.” He said the administration hadn’t shown convincingly that Congress gave it that authority.
via thegatewaypundit
