The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a religious challenge to the New York vaccine mandate that requires healthcare workers to get the COVID-19 vaccine without exemptions.
The vaccine mandate for healthcare workers went into effect in August and allows only for medical exemptions, not religious ones, per Fox News. The Supreme Court rejected two challenges from doctors and nurses in the state for injunctive relief to allow religious exemptions while litigation continues in the lower courts.
Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch dissented.
Gorsuch argued that the mandate turns away the doctors and nurses the state has depended on throughout the entirety 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,” Gorsuch 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 added. “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.”
