US Supreme Court denies religious challenge to Maine's vaccine mandate

The US Supreme Court has denied an emergency request to block implementation of Maine's requirement that all healthcare workers be vaccinated. Does v. Mills (US Supreme Ct 10/29/2021) [PDF].

Maine's mandate allows an exemption for those who produce a doctor's statement indicating that immunization "may be" medically inadvisable, but there is no exemption based on religious belief. Maine does not dispute that its rule burdens the exercise of sincerely held religious beliefs. The applicants explain that receiving the COVID-19 vaccines violates their faith because of what they view as an impermissible connection between the vaccines and the cell lines of aborted fetuses. More specifically, they allege that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine required the use of abortion-related materials in its production, and that Moderna and Pfizer relied on aborted fetal cell lines to develop their vaccines. This much, the applicants say, violates foundational principles of their religious faith.

Justice Gorsuch, joined by Justices Thomas and Alito, dissented from the denial. They argued that Maine is discriminating against workers who have religious objections to the COVID vaccines, saying "Maine's decision to deny a religious exemption in these circumstances … borders on the irrational."

Justices Barrett and Kavanaugh concurred in the denial of an injunction, saying the case should not be resolved using the Court's emergency docket – "on a short fuse without benefit of full briefing and oral argument."

This will not be the end of this case. There will be a petition for a writ of certiorari, following the normal procedures.