The United States Supreme Court met on Jan. 7, for a special session to hear oral arguments concerning the Biden Administration’s vaccine mandate for private employers, which has been challenged in court by multiple states and private employers, including Gulf Coast Restaurant Group, which is represented by the Mississippi Justice Institute (MJI).

The hearing concerned emergency motions seeking a stay of the vaccine mandate while litigation continues. The mandate is scheduled to take effect on January 10, 2022.

The mandate requires companies with over 100 employees to force their employees to be vaccinated, or be subject to weekly testing (at the employee’s expense) and constant mask-wearing – on pain of losing their job. Companies can face fines of up to $14,000 per violation for failing to enforce the mandate.

The mandate was initially halted by the 5^th Circuit Court of Appeals, which issued a stay against enforcement of the mandate while litigation challenging its legality continued. However, all lawsuits challenging the mandate were later consolidated before the 6^th Circuit Court of Appeals, where a three-judge panel issued an opinion revoking the temporary stay. The states and private employers challenging the mandate then sought emergency relief from the U.S. Supreme Court, asking the Court to issue a new stay before the mandate goes into effect on January 10.

“We are very grateful that the U.S. Supreme court has taken the extraordinary step of scheduling a special session to hear these arguments,” said MJI Director Aaron Rice. “We are confident that the U.S. Supreme Court will agree with us that the mandate is unconstitutional and unlawful and will halt the mandate before it can inflict untold damage on private employers and on our economy.”