The Supreme Court debated on Friday whether a pair of vaccine-related mandates enacted by the Biden administration, governing large businesses and healthcare facilities, can go forward, highlighting the national divide over COVID-19 vaccination and the recent surge, which was fueled by the Omicron variant.

The majority of conservative justices appeared sympathetic to business interests and Republican-led states seeking to block the broadest rule, an Occupational Safety and Health Administration standard covering companies with more than 100 employees. But liberal justices appeared perplexed by arguments that the rules should be halted in the wake of the latest, massive outbreak of infection, POLITICO reported.

Supreme Court appears wary of Biden's vaccine mandate

The impact of that wave was clear during Friday's session, which featured remote participation by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who was "not unwell," according to a court official, as well as attorneys opposing vaccine requirements.

However, Justice Clarence Thomas questioned whether the current threat posed by COVID-19 constituted a "crisis" that justified the Occupational Safety and Health Administration issuing an "emergency temporary standard" requiring most workplaces with more than 100 employees to enforce a vaccination-or-mask-and-test mandate.

Per Reuters, the 6-3 majority of conservative justices expressed sympathy for arguments made by the state of Ohio and a business group upon which the federal workplace safety agency issued the rule affecting businesses with at least 100 employees - a policy requiring vaccines or weekly COVID-19 tests for more than 80 million employees.

The challengers have urged the court to stop the government from enforcing the policy on Monday. Conservatives on the court said that the 1970 legislation that established the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) did not allow for such sweeping emergency action.

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Biden's vaccine and testing rules for businesses

They appeared to be more receptive to a different federal vaccine mandate that states headed by Missouri and Louisiana are seeking the Supreme Court to strike down across the board. It covers an estimated 10.3 million workers in around 76,000 healthcare facilities, including hospitals and nursing homes, that take funds from the government's Medicare and Medicaid healthcare programs for the aged, handicapped, and low-income.

In previous cases, the conservative justices have expressed concern against broad government agency activities. In both circumstances, swift decisions are anticipated. The debates highlighted how contentious the topic of vaccination has become in the United States, as well as in many other countries.

Both restrictions were appropriate, according to the three liberal judges, amid a pandemic that showed no indications of abating, with an increase in COVID-19 cases caused by the fast-spreading Omicron coronavirus variant.

Although the Supreme Court will remain closed to the public, the justices will sit on the bench to hear the arguments in person. According to the court, all of the judges have been properly immunized and have gotten a booster injection.

On Friday, court personnel, attorneys in the cases, credentialed media, and the justices' law clerks are permitted to attend, but they must be disguised and have negative Covid test results.

On its website, the Supreme Court will broadcast a live audio stream. Nearly 207 million Americans, or 62.3 percent of the population, have had all of their vaccines, and more than a third have received a booster shot, as per Daily Mail.

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