The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear Wyoming’s case against COVID-19 vaccine mandates for healthcare workers.
Wyoming and nine other Republican-led states in late November, 2021, won preliminary injunctions from two appeals courts, against President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate for healthcare workers in establishments funded by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid.
The federal government then petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court for a stay of the preliminary injunction, so that the vaccine mandate could go into effect while the court reviewed its legality.
The Supreme Court issued the stay in January, saying that Congress gave the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid the authority to dictate their terms of funding.
At that time, however, the high court stayed the federal government’s vaccine mandate for employees in businesses with 100 or more workers, calling it a breach of authority.
The Volley
Wyoming and the other states on May 12 petitioned the court for further review, saying the mandate “is now devastating small, rural, and community-based healthcare facilities and systems throughout the States.”
Biden volleyed in June, pointing to the hundreds of billions of dollars the federal government spends on Medicare and Medicaid.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear further argument, cementing its earlier order upholding the mandate.
About 10.3 million healthcare workers are affected by the mandate, according to court documents. Some religious and medical exemptions are available.
The other states who argued against the mandate with Wyoming are Missouri, Nebraska, Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, New Hampshire, North Dakota, and South Dakota. The case is titled Missouri vs. Biden.
