Courts

With One Justice And A Lawyer Remote, SCOTUS Wonders If COVID Is An Actual 'Emergency'

Irony alert.

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Female doctor wearing blue latex gloves injecting a child in her arm with a needle and syringe containing a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine cure by way of immunisation – 052In a rare Friday hearing, the Supreme Court is considering the legality of two coronavirus regulations imposed by the Biden administration.

Plaintiffs in National Federation of Independent Business v. Department of Labor challenge the vaccine-or-test mandate for businesses with 100 or more employees, claiming that OSHA’s emergency declaration is a mere pretext to get more Americans vaccinated. In Biden v. Missouri, the administration defends its vaccine mandate for healthcare workers in facilities which receive federal funds.

So it is more than a little ironic that the argument is taking place in a building which remains closed to the public and which imposes its own testing mandate on all participants. You cannot access your right of redress in the highest federal court without submitting a negative COVID test. And indeed this morning brings news that Ohio Solicitor General Ben Flowers will argue remotely after testing positive for COVID.  Justice Sotomayor, who has suffered from diabetes since childhood, will also hear the case from her chambers.

To say nothing of the fact that upwards of 800,000 Americans are now dead and the country is facing a massive surge in infections and hospitalizations thanks to the highly contagious omicron variant.

But at this very moment, Justices Gorsuch, Alito, and Thomas, who would have been exposed to COVID today were it not for their own office rules, are trying to decide if vaccine mandates are a gross abrogation of religious freedom — i.e. the freedom to spread disease to your coworkers.

Is sauce for the Article III goose good for the Article II gander? Guess we’re about to find out.

Supreme Court hears challenges to Biden vaccine and testing mandates [CNN]

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Liz Dye lives in Baltimore where she writes about law and politics.

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