Roberts, Barrett, Kavanaugh Side with Liberal Justices as SCOTUS Rejects Religious Challenge to NY Vax Mandate

U.S. Supreme Court declines to block New York vaccine mandate for health care workers.

QUICK FACTS:

• The Supreme Court on Monday refused to block a New York regulation that requires health care workers to get the COVID-19 vaccine without any religious exemptions, FOX News reports.
• The Court turned away two applications from doctors and nurses in the state that asked for religious exemptions, while litigation continues in the lower courts over the mandate’s constitutionality.
• The three dissents include Alito, Gorsuch, and Thomas.
• Roberts, Barrett, and Kavanaugh sided with the liberal justices.
• Thousands of New York healthcare workers now face the loss of their jobs and eligibility for unemployment benefits.
• The mandate does not include a religious exemption.

WHAT GORSUCH SAID:

• Justice Gorsuch wrote in his dissent that the mandate turns away the very doctors and nurses the state has depended on throughout the course of the pandemic. “We do all this even though the State’s execu­tive decree clearly interferes with the free exercise of reli­gion—and does so seemingly based on nothing more than fear and anger at those who harbor unpopular religious be­liefs,” he wrote.
• “We allow the State to insist on the dismissal of thou­sands of medical workers—the very same individuals New York has depended on and praised for their service on the pandemic’s front lines over the last 21 months,” he continued. “To add in­sult to injury, we allow the State to deny these individuals unemployment benefits too. One can only hope today’s rul­ing will not be the final chapter in this grim story.”