The Supreme Court denied a request from several employees of a Massachusetts hospital system to block a vaccine mandate on Monday, marking the latest denial in a slew of mandate exemption requests brought to the Supreme Court.
The State of the Judiciary's forum "Striking the Balance: Fair and Independent Courts in a New Era" was held at Georgetown University Law Center. Clinton appointed Breyer to the court in 1994. The photo was taken by Chip Somodevilla.
The images are from the same company.
The current and former employees of the Mass General Brigham hospital network filed an appeal last week asking the court to block Mass General from implementing its vaccine mandate and to order the employer to rehire workers who were fired due to noncompliance.
The vaccine violates the employees' sincerely held religious beliefs or puts them in significant physical or mental danger.
The group was denied their request without referring the case to the full court.
Continue watching after the ad Visit the Advertiser website.
In the past, the Supreme Court has ruled in favor of vaccine mandates. The court denied a request by unnamed healthcare workers who sought religious exemptions from Maine's Covid-19 vaccine mandate. Four teachers and teaching assistants asked the court to halt the requirement for the Covid-19 vaccine, but Justice Sotomayor refused to block it. In August, Justice Amy ConeyBarrett allowed Indiana University to require its students to be vaccine free, denying eight students their request to block the mandate, which they said violated their constitutional rights.
The key background.
President Joe Biden ordered all healthcare workers at hospitals that receive Medicare or Medicaid funding to be fully vaccine free. A federal judge in Missouri temporarily halted the mandate in ten states that sued to block it, arguing that it would lead to staffing shortages. The Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on November 12 that Biden's mandate for companies with 100 or more employees was temporarily halted.
Two more challenges to vaccine mandates for healthcare workers in New York are pending. Both of them are seeking religious exemptions.
