BREAKING: Supreme Court Orders Expedited Oral Argument on Emergency Stay Requests on Biden Administration's Vaccine Mandate Jan 7th

Just moments ago, the Supreme Court ordered expedited oral argument on the Biden Administration’s vaccine mandate cases to be held on January 7th.

In an unusual move, the Supreme Court set an expedited oral argument on the emergency stay requests in the Biden Administration’s vaccine mandate cases – both the employer mandate challenged by numerous petitioners, including by the ACLJ on behalf of our client The Heritage Foundation, and the health worker mandate.

The ACLJ filed an emergency stay request with the Supreme Court on Saturday night in an effort to block the Biden Administration’s mandate that private employers of 100 or more employees be required to force their workers to obtain and prove that they have received the COVID-19 vaccine. This mandate not only impinges on the constitutional rights of employees but creates onerous burdens on employers, including enforcing the mandate, storing private medical information of all employees' vaccine status, and conducting onsite weekly COVID testing. Quite simply, it is an unconstitutional federal power grab.

As we’ve explained:

[T]he ACLJ is representing The Heritage Foundation in a new lawsuit challenging President Biden’s vaccine mandate for all employers with 100 or more employees, regardless of whether they work remotely. The Biden mandate also directs larger businesses to require employees to receive the COVID-19 vaccine or undergo regular testing and mask-wearing.

The mandate has been promulgated by the Biden Administration’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). After OSHA issued this mandate, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal temporarily blocked it. However, all legal challenges were then consolidated in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.

On Friday, Dec. 17th, the Sixth Circuit reinstated President Biden’s vaccine mandate . . . .

In response, our legal team immediately filed an Emergency Application for Stay of Agency Action Pending Judicial Review and Petition for a Writ of Certiorari Before Judgment on behalf of The Heritage Foundation to defeat this unconstitutional mandate.

Not only is this mandate unconstitutional, it could actually put more employees at risk for exposure to COVID-19 and its variants, as it requires regular testing, administered by a designated employee, requiring that person to come into close proximity with the employee who may or may not test positive. Not to mention the added financial burden it is to these employers, many of which barely survived the pandemic and enforced lockdowns that ensued during 2020.

As stated in our emergency filing:

“If upheld, the vaccine mandate will fundamentally change the relationship between employer and employee by forcing employers to compel and regulate the personal medical decisions of their employees. The vaccine mandate will also impose significant financial and other burdens on private employers and result in predictable economic chaos.”

Earlier this week, the Supreme Court ordered the Biden Administration to file a response by December 30th. With oral argument at the Supreme Court in these critical cases now set for less than two weeks away, our legal team will be working tirelessly through the end of the year to prepare for the next round of legal arguments as we urge the Supreme Court to strike down this draconian and unconstitutional mandate. We will keep you updated as this critical case progresses.