US Supreme Court refuses to block New York vaccine mandate for health care workers News
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US Supreme Court refuses to block New York vaccine mandate for health care workers

The US Supreme Court Monday denied a request for relief from health care workers in New York seeking to block a COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

New York’s mandate requires all health care workers to be vaccinated, with only a single narrow exception for those who have a severe allergic reaction to the vaccine. There are no exceptions for religious objections. Two groups of health care workers filed lawsuits seeking an injunction against the mandate, stating they could not take the vaccine on religious grounds because the vaccines have been developed or tested using aborted fetal cell lines.

One district court found in favor of one lawsuit, while another court turned down the other suit. The health care workers asked the Supreme Court to intervene on an emergency basis, and the court rejected the request by a 6-3 vote. Conservatives Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Kavanaugh and Barrett joined the three liberal Justices Breyer, Kagan, and Sotomayor in denying the request. Justices Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch would have granted the application for relief.

Justice Gorsuch wrote a dissent, joined by Justice Alito, to the decision. In his dissent he emphasized not only will the workers be subject to firing and the denial of unemployment benefits, but also the loss of First Amendment freedom under the Free Exercise clause. No one challenges the sincerity of the workers’ beliefs, he wrote, and would find the mandate unconstitutional. He warned of “the costs that come when this Court stands silent as majorities invade the constitutional rights of the unpopular and unorthodox.”

At the end of October, the court denied a similar request from health care workers in Maine to block that state’s vaccine mandate.

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