This newsletter is distributed by Public Health Law Watch as part of Act for Public Health, a working group of the Public Health Law Partnership that is convening to provide law and policy research, analysis, and expertise in support of public health authority.
Cases this week:
2/23: A federal court in the Western District of Michigan dismissed a class action lawsuit challenging Michigan State University’s vaccine mandate.
2/23: Along with officials from nine other states, the Kansas Attorney General filed a motion in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri to reopen litigation challenging Biden’s federal vaccine mandate for health care workers.
2/22: Opponents of Connecticut’s elimination of religious exemptions from childhood immunization requirements filed a new challenge in state court, after losing their case in federal court.
Spotlight: Religious exemption to vaccine mandate cases: Maine & NYC
Recently, the Supreme Court has been asked to hear several vaccine mandate cases brought on religious freedom grounds. On Tuesday, February 22, the U.S. Supreme Court again declined to hear arguments from Maine health care workers challenging their state’s vaccine mandate. A week earlier, the Court said it would consider hearing an emergency request to block a vaccine mandate brought by New York City teachers and staff.
Last October, a group of Maine health care workers sought injunctive relief from the emergency mandate, seeking a religious exemption. The Supreme Court denied plaintiffs’ request in a 6-3 decision. The dissent, penned by Justice Gorsuch, opined the mandate should be reviewed under strict scrutiny due to the mandate’s lack of religious exemptions.
Enacted in August 2021, Maine’s initial emergency mandate requiring health care workers in the state be vaccinated has since become a permanent regulation.
