Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/21a240_d18e.pdf
Page Number: 21

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

3 

ALITO, J., dissenting 

to demonstrate good cause, federal courts have consistently 
held that exceptions to notice-and-comment must be “ ‘nar-
rowly  construed  and  only  reluctantly  countenanced.’ ” 
Mack  Trucks,  Inc.  v.  EPA,  682  F. 3d  87,  93  (CADC  2012) 
(quoting  Utility  Solid  Waste  Activities  Group  v.  EPA,  236 
F. 3d 749, 754 (CADC 2001)); see also C. Koch & R. Murphy,
Good Cause for Avoiding Procedures, 1 Admin. L. & Prac. 
§4:13 (3d ed. 2021).

The  agency  that  issued  the  mandate  at  issue  here,  i.e., 
the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), ad-
mits  it  did  not  comply  with  the  commonsense  measure  of 
seeking  public  input  before  placing  binding  rules  on  mil-
lions  of  people,  but  it  claims  that  “[t]he  data  showing  the 
vital importance of vaccination” indicate that it “cannot de-
lay taking this action.”  86 Fed. Reg. 61555, 61583 (2021).
But CMS’s generalized justification cannot alone establish 
good  cause  to  dispense  with  Congress’s  clear  procedural 
safeguards.  An  agency  seeking  to  show  good  cause  must 
“point  to  something  specific  that  illustrates  a  particular 
harm  that  will  be  caused  by  the delay  required  for  notice
and comment.”  United States v. Brewer, 766 F. 3d 884, 890 
(CA8 2014) (internal quotation marks omitted). 

Although CMS argues that an emergency justifies swift 
action, both District Courts below held that CMS fatally un-
dercut that justification with its own repeated delays.  The 
vaccines  that  CMS  now  claims  are  vital  had  been  widely 
available 10 months before CMS’s mandate, and millions of 
healthcare workers had already been vaccinated before the 
agency took action.  President Biden announced the CMS 
mandate on September 9, 2021, nearly two months before
the agency released the rule on November 5, and the man-
date itself delayed the compliance deadline further by an-
other month until December 6. 86 Fed. Reg. 61555; id., at 
61573  (making  implementation  of  the  vaccine  mandate
begin  “30  days  after  publication”  and  completed  “60  days
after publication”).  This is hardly swift.