Numerous business groups, organizations, and even 27 states recently filed emergency requests asking the U.S. Supreme Court to resolve the split between federal appeals courts on the legality of President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate for businesses with 100-plus employees.
Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh on Monday asked the federal government to respond to each of the petitions by December 30 at 4:00 p.m., creating the possibility that the completed applications could be circulated to the other eight justices in time to issue a decision before Christmas on whether the Court will a grant a stay and take up the case.
The applicants are asking the justices for a stay while litigation is ongoing challenging Biden’s coronavirus vaccine mandate, which goes into effect on January 4. The 27 states and several other applicants are additionally requesting their filings be considered a petition for writ of certiorari, meaning they are asking the Supreme Court to take up the case this term.
“In addition and in the alternative, the Court should treat this application as a petition for certiorari before judgment and grant immediate review of the Vaccine Mandate’s legality,” the states’ emergency application reads.
The emergency requests come after the Sixth Circuit on Saturday dissolved a stay of Biden’s vaccine mandate issued by the Fifth Circuit in November. Though the Sixth Circuit has a conservative judge majority 9-7, a three judge panel, including a President Barack Obama appointee and a President George W. Bush appointee with a reputation as a liberal-leaning moderate, voted 2-1, with a President Donald Trump appointee penning the dissent.
Biden’s mandate, issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), is the largest of the president’s five vaccine mandates and impacts 84 million workers.
The applications are In re: MCP No. 165 v. OSHA, Nos. 21A243 through 21A251 (with more applications possibly forthcoming) in the Supreme Court of the United States.
Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Twitter.
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