The Biden Administration's vaccine-or-test mandates could be thrown out by the Supreme Court soon. After hearing hours of arguments over the dual mandates issued by OSHA—one mandate for medical workers receiving federal Medicare/Medicaid funding, the other for employers of 100 or more people—the court's majority seems poised to toss at least the private employer mandate.

• According to NPR, the court's conservative majority raised concern that the OSHA mandate was an overreach by the Administration, with Chief Justice Roberts saying "This is something the federal government has never done before."

• Meanwhile, the court's liberal justices appeared to favor the vaccine mandates, with Justice Kagen saying stressing that COVID "is by far the greatest public health danger that this country has faced in the last century."

Grim Undertones

As the court heard arguments, the US broke daily infection records set during last winter's surge. Meanwhile, two of the attorneys arguing the case did so by phone as they were sick with COVID, and Justice Sotomayor heard arguments remotely as she is diabetic and was practicing caution in the face of infection. 

The Verdict

As the fate of Biden's vaccine mandates hang in the balance, Omicron continues to spread like wildfire, with hospitalizations and deaths beginning to tick up again too. Should the court overturn the mandate, it blocks the Executive branch from using a major tool in the fight against COVID.