SCOTUS Rules on Emergency Requests to Block NY’s Vax Mandate

The Supreme Court has turned away two emergency requests from health care workers, doctors, and nurses in New York to block the state’s vaccine mandate. Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas dissented.

The Supreme Court turned away two emergency requests Monday from health care workers, doctors, and nurses in New York to block the state’s vaccine mandate.

Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Clarence Thomas dissented.

Three nurses and a group called We the Patriots USA, Inc, challenged the mandate, arguing that it allowed exemptions for those with medical objections but not for people with religious objections.

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.

The justices have allowed state mandates from Indiana, Maine, and New York to go forward suggesting tolerance for state efforts to fight Covid-19 in the midst of a surge of the Delta variant.

Gorsuch wrote that he would have granted the requests, noting that the doctors and the nurses “have gone to great lengths to serve their patients” during the pandemic.

He said that two of the doctors are not “anti-vaxxers who object to all vaccines,” but that the sincerity of their religious beliefs should be respected.

Gorsuch noted that only recently had New York indicated that religious exemptions would not be accepted and he stressed the fact that the state did accommodate those with non-religious objections to the mandate.

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