Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/21a244_hgci.pdf
Page Number: 17.0

Cite as:  595 U. S. ____ (2022) 

1 

BREYER, J., dissenting 
BREYER, SOTOMAYOR, and KAGAN, JJ., dissenting 

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 

_________________ 

Nos. 21A244 and 21A247 
_________________ 

NATIONAL FEDERATION OF INDEPENDENT 
BUSINESS, ET AL., APPLICANTS 
21A244 
v. 
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY 
AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION, ET AL. 

OHIO, ET AL., APPLICANTS 
21A247 
v. 
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY 
AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION, ET AL. 

ON APPLICATIONS FOR STAYS 

[January 13, 2022]

 JUSTICE  BREYER,  JUSTICE  SOTOMAYOR,  and  JUSTICE 

KAGAN, dissenting. 

Every day, COVID–19 poses grave dangers to the citizens
of this country—and particularly, to its workers.  The dis-
ease has by now killed almost 1 million Americans and hos-
pitalized almost 4 million.  It spreads by person-to-person 
contact in confined indoor spaces, so causes harm in nearly 
all  workplace  environments.    And  in  those  environments, 
more than any others, individuals have little control, and 
therefore  little  capacity  to  mitigate  risk.  COVID–19,  in 
short, is a menace in work settings.  The proof is all around
us:  Since  the  disease’s  onset,  most  Americans  have  seen 
their workplaces transformed. 

So  the  administrative  agency  charged  with  ensuring
health  and  safety  in  workplaces  did  what  Congress  com-
manded it to: It took action to address COVID–19’s contin-
uing threat in those spaces.  The Occupational Safety and