On January 7 the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in a set of cases challenging the Biden administration’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates. Under one mandate, employers with more than 100 employees must require those employees to be vaccinated, or be tested for COVID-19 on a weekly basis. Under the other mandate, any health care facility that participates in Medicare or Medicaid must ensure that all their workers are fully vaccinated.
Joining host Jeffrey Rosen are two attorneys who filed amicus briefs in these cases. John Masslon, senior litigation counsel at Washington Legal Foundation, filed an amicus brief arguing against the legality of the mandates, and Deepak Gupta, founding principal of Gupta Wessler and instructor at Harvard’s Supreme Court Litigation Clinic, filed an amicus brief in support of the legality of the mandates on behalf of the American Public Health Association.
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This episode was produced by Melody Rowell and engineered by Dave Stotz. Research was provided by Michael Esposito, Chase Hanson, and Lana Ulrich.
PARTICIPANTS
John Masslon is Senior Litigation Counsel at Washington Legal Foundation. Previously, he served as Assistant Solicitor General for the State of West Virginia. He formerly clerked on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania and the Superior Court of Pennsylvania. He filed an amicus brief arguing against the legality of the mandates.
Deepak Gupta is the founding principal of Gupta Wessler, a boutique law firm focused on Supreme Court, appellate, and complex litigation. He is a veteran advocate before the Supreme Court, and is also an instructor in Harvard’s Supreme Court Litigation Clinic. Deepak has filed over 100 briefs in the Supreme Court and regularly presents oral argument before the Court. He filed an amicus brief in support of the legality of the mandates on behalf of the American Public Health Association.
Jeffrey Rosen is the president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization devoted to educating the public about the U.S. Constitution. Rosen is also professor of law at The George Washington University Law School and a contributing editor of The Atlantic.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
- John Masslon’s amicus brief in NFIB v. Department of Labor, OSHA
- Deepak Gupta’s amicus brief on behalf of the American Public Health Association, et al, in Biden v. Missouri and NFIB v. Department of Labor, OSHA
TRANSCRIPT
This transcript may not be in its final form, accuracy may vary, and it may be updated or revised in the future.
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