The Supreme Court announced Wednesday evening that it has scheduled oral arguments on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) vaccine mandate interim final rule (IFR) and OSHA’s vaccine-or-test mandate for large employers on January 7.

The CMS rule requires virtually every health care worker in the country to be vaccinated, including those at skilled nursing facilities, but does not cover assisted living facilities. the rule also allows for certain medical and religious exemptions. The mandate is currently not being enforced anywhere in the USA because CMS is currently enjoined from enforcing the mandate in 25 states.

OSHA issued its vaccine-or-test mandate in November, requiring companies with more than 100 employees to mandate that their workers either receive a COVID-19 vaccine or undergo regular testing and take other measures to combat the spread of the virus.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement Wednesday night the administration is “confident in the legal authority” of the requirements and the Department of Justice will “vigorously defend” the measures.

WHCA/WiCAL will update members as more information is known. Given the accelerated timeline the Supreme Court is taking for hearing oral arguments, legal experts suspect the Supreme Court plans to act quickly on deciding the fate of these two mandates.