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While the U.S. Supreme Court has remanded the Biden administration’s vaccine-or-test law for large businesses back to a lower court, trucking industry experts said the high court’s action likely spells defeat for the proposal.

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration on Jan. 18 quietly launched its website for Americans to request free at-home COVID-19 tests, a day before the site was scheduled to officially go online.

The United States Supreme Court on Jan. 13 blocked enforcement of the Biden administration’s proposed sweeping vaccine rules, which would have required companies with more than 100 employees — including trucking companies — to ensure workers receive a COVID-19 vaccine or undergo weekly testing and wear a mask.

The Supreme Court appears divided on legal challenges centering on the scope and federal authority of the Biden administration’s sweeping proposed COVID vaccine mandate, which would require private-sector firms to vaccinate or test tens of millions of employees.

In an effort to avert financial shortfalls for highway programs due to the coronavirus pandemic, a number of states have raised their tolls for cars and trucks, effective Jan. 1.

Holiday sales rose at the fastest pace in 17 years, even as shoppers grappled with higher prices, product shortages and a raging new COVID-19 variant in the last few weeks of the season, according to one spending measure.

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court says it will hold a special session Jan. 7 to weigh challenges to two Biden administration policies covering vaccine requirements for millions of workers — policies that affect large employers and health care workers.

A federal appeals court panel on Dec. 17 allowed President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for larger private employers to move ahead.

The Cincinnati-based U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals said Dec. 15 that a three-judge panel — rather than the entire court — would rule on a challenge to President Joe Biden’s mandate that all private employers with at least 100 workers require them to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or wear masks and face weekly tests.

The potential harm that a proposed federal vaccine mandate could have on trucking was spotlighted by an industry executive who outlined for lawmakers key challenges facing motor carriers as they work to deliver goods across an increasingly stressed supply chain.