This newsletter is distributed by Public Health Law Watch as part of Act for Public Health, a working group of the Public Health Law Partnership that is convening to provide law and policy research, analysis, and expertise in support of public health authority.
Cases this week:
Tuesday, 3/8: The Fifth Circuit heard arguments regarding the federal employee vaccine requirement.
Monday, 3/7: The Department of Defense filed an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court to reinstate a portion of its vaccine mandate that allows it to change a service member’s assignment if they are not vaccinated.
Monday, 3/7: A group of Michigan parents sued the Washtenaw County Health Department and the Chelsea School District over the county’s mask mandate, stating that although the mandate had expired, the lawsuit was still necessary “given the fact that such an order is capable of repetition and another order could be issued at any time in the future.”
Spotlight: Keil v. NYC
(Case Nos. 21-3043, 21-3047)
On Monday, March 7, the Supreme Court rejected a request by New York City teachers to review their Free Exercise challenge to the city’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
After Justice Sotomayor, who is assigned to the Second Circuit, denied plaintiffs’ emergency request to hear the case, they turned to Justice Gorsuch. He referred the case to the full Court for consideration.
The Court has sent mixed signals about vaccine mandates. In January, it blocked OSHA’s vaccine-or-test mandate for companies with more than 100 employees, but allowed the HHS mandate for health care workers at institutions receiving Medicare and Medicaid funding to go forward. However, the Court has declined to hear challenges to state mandates.
Monday’s refusal follows the Court’s decision in February to reject the petition by Maine health care workers to enjoin that state’s vaccine mandate for health care workers. Last August, Justice Barrett rejected an emergency request by college students to review Indiana University’s vaccine mandate.
Although the Supreme Court has not ruled on any of the state claims, Justices Gorsuch, Alito and Thomas have indicated that they consider state mandates that lack religious exemptions to be unconstitutional. For now, however, the majority seems content to leave the litigation over state mandates to the lower courts.