Arkansas governor says large businesses in state should not comply with Biden administration’s ‘oppressive vaccine mandate’

“They should wait until they get the Supreme Court decision, and of course that’s an individual business decision,” Hutchinson, a Republican, told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” Sunday when asked if large businesses should comply with the rule, which his state and others are challenging before the nation’s highest court.

The Supreme Court heard arguments in the case on Friday, with the majority-conservative court appearing ready to reject the vaccine mandate, which represents one of President Joe Biden’s most aggressive attempts so far to combat the spread of Covid-19.

Hutchinson said Sunday that some businesses in the state will “make the decision that they ought to have a vaccine requirement in the workplace, and I support their ability to make that decision.

“There shouldn’t be a ban against that, but others make the decision that it’s not necessary. Maybe they work in a more open environment, or they have a risk of losing too many employees. And so they have that freedom,” the governor said.

SCOTUS arguments

During oral arguments last week, Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar told the justices that “Covid-19 is the deadliest pandemic in American history and it poses a particularly acute workplace danger.”

However, she said, OSHA had the authority to act in a way that would “save 6,500 lives and prevent 250,000 hospitalizations in just six months.”

Scott A. Keller, a lawyer for the National Federation of Independent Business, told the court that OSHA did not have the authority to put in place a vaccine and testing regime that would cover two-thirds of all private-sector workers.

He said the OSHA requirement would impose substantial compliance costs on businesses that will be faced with incurring the cost of testing for millions of employees who refuse to vaccinate.