On Monday, the United States Supreme Court rejected two emergency bids seeking to prevent enforcement of the state of New York’s vaccine mandate for healthcare workers in the Empire State.
CNBC was one of the first outlets to report on the breaking news:
The legal challenge was filed by a group of 20 doctors and nurses who argued that the state’s vaccine mandate violates the First Amendment to the Constitution because it fails to include a religious exemption.
The request for an injunction had been presented to Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who is assigned to handle cases from New York.
Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch and Samuel Alito — three of the court’s six-member conservative majority — said in the order that they would have granted the bid to block the mandate.
According to CNN, “The rule, which is currently in effect, covers workers in hospitals and nursing homes, home health agencies, adult centers as well as hospices. Several doctors who say they have treated many patients with Covid filed a separate request with the justices.”
On the topic of religious exemptions, Justice Neil Gorsuch noted: “Even if one were to read the State’s actions as something other than signs of animus, they leave little doubt that the revised mandate was specifically directed at the applicants’ unorthodox religious beliefs and practices.”
He also added that other states have found ways to “satisfy its COVID-19 public health goals without coercing religious objectors to accept a vaccine.”
For critics who pointed out that the head of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis, has been encouraging vaccinations, Gorsuch warned against coercing the minority who object on religious grounds:
