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The federal government last night asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stay the Missouri and Louisiana district court preliminary injunctions that have put the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services vaccine mandate on hold in 24 states. The federal government’s application argues that the Missouri and Louisiana district courts misconstrued the Medicare and Medicaid statutes, that issuing the mandate without notice and comment was necessary given the ongoing pandemic, and that the agency considered all relevant information in reaching its decision. The federal government also contends that it is being irreparably injured by the Missouri and Louisiana preliminary injunctions and that the public interest favors allowing the CMS vaccine mandate to go into effect while the Eighth and Fifth Circuits consider the federal government’s appeals. 
  
“This is the end-game that we have been waiting for,” writes Sean Marotta, a partner at Hogan Lovells and AHA outside counsel, in a blog post this morning. “We have known that the Supreme Court would have the last word on whether the vaccine mandates go into effect, and the government’s application gives it the chance to do so for the CMS mandate. The question now is how quickly the Supreme Court will act. The court will soon set a deadline for the challengers to respond to the federal government’s application and for the federal government to file any reply, and could rule as soon as a few days after briefing is complete. If the court moves fast enough, we could have a ruling on the CMS mandate’s fate pending appeal before the end of the year.”  
  
Visit the AHA blog for more posts on this issue. The blog page is updated regularly so please check in for important updates.