Updated at 12:45 p.m. to reflect arguments in the cases.
The Supreme Court heard two emergency challenges Friday to President Joe Biden’s vaccine-or-test mandates for large businesses and healthcare workers, testing the limits of executive power amid a relentless pandemic.
The challengers are various religious organizations, private businesses and Republican-led states, which argued Biden has no authority to mandate a vaccine for them.
After hearing the first challenge, which was a private business arguing against Biden’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration vaccine-or-test mandate, the Supreme Court ultimately seemed a bit wary of the mandates.
The justices appeared particularly skeptical about whether Biden, along with OSHA, had the authority to impose such a mandate. Chief Justice John Roberts regularly questioning OSHA’s jurisdiction, timing and authority. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, defending the mandate, made several claims that were false or at least exaggerated. She said that COVID-19 deaths were at an all-time high and that 100,000 children are hospitalized with the disease. Data supporting these statements is slim, if not nonexistent…READ FULL ARTICLE HERE… – star-telegram.com
