File Photo – Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker | Photo: Illinois Information Service.

(The Center Square) – Following the U.S. Supreme Court ruling against the Biden administration’s vaccine or testing mandate on private businesses, Illinois is expected to withdraw their mandate, which mirrored the federal one.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday blocked the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate on private sector businesses with more than 100 employees.

The court said that OSHA lacked the authority to impose the mandate. Three of the nine justices issued a dissenting opinion.

The conservative justices said that 84 million Americans being ordered to either obtain a COVID–19 vaccine or undergo weekly medical testing at their own expense was “no everyday exercise of federal power.”

“It is instead a significant encroachment into the lives—and health—of a vast number of employees,” the conservative justices said in the ruling.

“Contrary to the dissent’s contention, imposing a vaccine mandate on 84 million Americans in response to a worldwide pandemic is simply not ‘part of what the agency was built for,'” they added.

[Suggested Article]  Governor announces more than $800 million project to demolish, rebuild 2 prisons in Illinois

The U.S. Supreme Court, in a separate ruling on Thursday, allowed a vaccine mandate to proceed for health care workers who work at facilities that receive Medicare and Medicaid funding.

The Illinois Department of Labor had issued an emergency rule Friday, the day justices on the nation’s highest court heard oral arguments on the case, that impacted larger public sector employers in Illinois.

“It was literally something you had to put in place so that local government could prepare,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Wednesday before the Supreme Court ruling.

Before the ruling, IDOL said in a statement earlier this week that if the high court struck down the mandate, Illinois’ rule would be withdrawn.

“At that point, IL OSHA could determine whether it wants to develop its own rule, which would be subject to the normal rule-making process,” a spokesperson for IDOL said Monday.

[Suggested Article]  Feds sue Crystal Lake tree removal, landscaping company alleging the owe workers nearly $1 million

Thursday, a spokesperson for IDOL said, “Because IL OSHA’s peremptory rule incorporates the federal standard, IL OSHA will similarly stay enforcement of its rule while it monitors federal litigation and determines next steps. ”

The Center Square and Lake and McHenry County Scanner both contributed to this report.