The Supreme court denied today an emergency appeal to stop Maine’s vaccine mandate on health care workers an appeals court let a lower court ruling stand that allowed the mandate to continue:
NEWSMAX – The U.S. Supreme Court declined Tuesday to hear an emergency appeal of a vaccine requirement imposed on Maine health care workers, the latest defeat for opponents of vaccine mandates.
It was the first time the Supreme Court weighed in on a statewide vaccine mandate. It previously rejected challenges of vaccine requirements for New York City teachers and Indiana University staff and students.
Justice Stephen Breyer rejected the emergency appeal but left the door open to try again as the clock ticks on Maine’s mandate. The state will begin enforcing it Oct. 29.
The Maine vaccine requirement that was put in place by Democratic Gov. Janet Mills requires hospital workers and nursing home workers to get vaccinated or risk losing their jobs.
Opponents tried to block the mandate, but a federal judge rejected the request on Oct. 20. The judge said the record indicated regular testing alone wasn’t sufficient to stop the spread of the delta variant.
A three-judge panel of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals let the ruling stand in a one-sentence statement two days later.
Below is the actual decision by Breyer:
Notice that in the ruling, it was denied “without prejudice”. What Breyer did in this ruling was to allow the applicants to file an emergency appeal again either after a lower court rules on the merits of the case by October 29th OR if no ruling comes by the time the state begins enforcing the mandate.
Essentially the Supreme Court said ‘not now’, giving the applicants an escape route should they get a bad decision or no decision at all. So not the worst decision they could get.