Today, the Supreme Court issued decisions for two cases addressing lawsuits brought by Republican governors and attorneys general challenging vaccine requirements by CMS and OSHA. The court upheld the CMS vaccine requirement for health care workers, but it rejected OSHA’s vaccine or testing rule despite widespread support from legal and public health experts.
Below, a selection of reactions to this decision which will help Republicans in the goal of prolonging the pandemic at the expense of the health and safety of workers:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi: “Democrats know that vaccines and testing save lives, and despite this disappointing ruling, we will continue our efforts to ensure safe workplaces for people to go to work and safe schools for children to learn in the classroom. Meanwhile, reckless Republican leaders in Congress and throughout the country continue to attack life-saving vaccines, fanning the flames of dangerous disinformation and trying to gut many of the precautions proven to save lives.” [1/13/22]
U.S. Representative Bobby Scott (D-VA-03): “The Supreme Court’s decision to block OSHA’s emergency workplace standard undermines a 50-year-old workplace safety law and threatens OSHA’s authority to protect workers during a public health emergency. This is exactly the type of so-called judicial activism that Republicans once decried. Most importantly, the Court’s failure to uphold the vaccine-or-test policy eliminates a critical tool for saving lives and ending the pandemic. Workers’ health is public health. We must do everything we can to ensure that all Americans can go to work without endangering themselves or their families.” [1/13/22]
Protect Our Care’s Coronavirus War Room: “Let’s be clear, President Biden is using the full resources of the United States government to keep us safe and our economy growing. Thanks to Republicans and their handpicked Supreme Court majority, more people will get sick, more people will die, more workplaces will face labor shortages, and more hospitals will become overwhelmed.” [1/13/22]
Building Back Together: “While Republicans in Congress continue to undermine proven public health measures, by spreading misinformation and attempting to roll back vaccine and testing measures, the Biden-Harris Administration will continue to drive home the fact that vaccines save lives and are our best tool to fight the pandemic and continue to grow our economy.” [1/13/22]
Small Business for America’s Future: “Though 98% of small businesses are too small to be directly affected by this ruling, a government rule asking larger employers to require vaccines would send an important signal to the market that good public health is required to end this pandemic and small business owners understand the need for vaccines to protect workers and enable a swift economic recovery from Covid-19.” [1/13/22]
Center for American Progress: “With the recent surge in cases, OSHA’s policy is a critically important tool for protecting American workers from the greatest public health danger that this country has faced in the past century. It is disappointing that the Supreme Court—which has its own testing and masking policy to protect the court from the virus—will not allow these essential protections to remain in place.” [1/13/22]
House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn on Twitter: “The Republican pandemic political playbook: 1) Legitimize vaccine hesitancy and misinformation 2) Bash and block @POTUS’s vaccination efforts 3) Blame @POTUS for not ending the pandemic. Stop playing politics with people’s lives.” [1/13/22]
House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis on Twitter: “Today’s decision will cost American workers their lives.” [1/13/22]
Dr. Zeke Emanuel on Twitter: “This is a terrible ruling — and a disaster for our fight against #COVID. Vaccination in the workplace is key to reducing risk to workers and the risk to all of us from this disease. The SCt can make its own rules to protect itself; most workers can’t.” [1/13/22]
Dr. Jeremy Faust on Twitter: “I’m no legal scholar but upholding the OSHA vaccine requirement would’ve saved lives. This Supreme Court ruling will cost lives.” [1/13/22]
Brad Woodhouse, executive director of Protect Our Care, on Twitter: “Republicans want to prolong the pandemic – have more people get sick and die – so they can blame Biden and win an election. And the Supreme Court just helped them. Disgraceful.” [1/13/22]
Lawrence Gostin, Georgetown Law School Professor, on Twitter: “SCOTUS stays OSHA vaccine-or-test mandate & lets CMS vaccine mandate take effect Lay judges are blocking the president’s key COVID vaccine strategy in a pandemic. The deeper issue: The justices are dismantling the regulatory state. Our health is at risk.” [1/13/22]
Jesse Ferguson on Twitter: “These days, almost all GOP leaders get the vaccine for themselves but then do everything they can to make sure other Americans don’t.” [1/13/22]