{"id":1119922,"date":"2021-12-14T23:58:28","date_gmt":"2021-12-15T04:58:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1119922"},"modified":"2021-12-14T23:58:32","modified_gmt":"2021-12-15T04:58:32","slug":"scotus-declines-to-block-new-yorks-vaccine-mandate-for-healthcare-workers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/scotus-declines-to-block-new-yorks-vaccine-mandate-for-healthcare-workers\/","title":{"rendered":"SCOTUS Declines to Block New York&#039;s Vaccine Mandate for Healthcare Workers"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fscotus-declines-to-block-new-yorks-vaccine-mandate-for-healthcare-workers%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1119922&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"subheading\">The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to grant an emergency request from New York healthcare workers to block the state\u2019s coronavirus vaccine mandate, which includes the option to apply for medical exemptions but intentionally excludes religious exemptions.<\/p>\n<p>The Thomas More Society,&nbsp;a legal group that fights for religious liberty, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/politics\/2021\/10\/10\/federal-judge-decide-new-yorks-vaccine-mandate-must-include-religious-exemptions\/\">filed<\/a> a lawsuit on behalf of nearly 20 New York healthcare workers against Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY), New York State Department of Health Commissioner Howard Zucker, and New York Attorney General Leticia James before the Sept. 27 mandate deadline went into effect. The lawsuit alleges the state is violating&nbsp;Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act by discriminating against healthcare workers on the basis of religion and is violating the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>Judge David Hurd in the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York issued a preliminary injunction in October, only for the liberal-leaning U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to nullify the order and rule against requiring the state to allow religious exemptions. The Supreme Court voted 6-3 against issuing a stay of the Second Circuit\u2019s decision while the court process plays out. Conservative-leaning Justice Neil Gorsuch, who was joined in opposition by Justice Samuel Alito and Justice Clarence Thomas, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/opinions\/21pdf\/21a145_gfbi.pdf\">penned<\/a> the dissenting Court opinion, saying,&nbsp;<span>\u2018Today, we do not just fail the applicants. We fail our\u00adselves.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_18497018\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" readability=\"35\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/oct25-2021-protest-new-york-city-vaccine-mandate-coronavirus-getty.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-18497018\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/oct25-2021-protest-new-york-city-vaccine-mandate-coronavirus-getty.jpg\" alt=\"TOPSHOT - Municipal workers hold placards and shout slogans outside city hall during a protest against the covid-19 vaccine mandate, in New York on October 25, 2021. - Vaccine-reluctant New York firefighters took to the streets October 25, 2021 to demonstrate against the city&#039;s requirement that they get inoculated against Covid-19 or risk losing their jobs. (Photo by Ed JONES \/ AFP) (Photo by ED JONES\/AFP via Getty Images)\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Municipal workers hold placards and shout slogans outside city hall during a protest against the covid-19 vaccine mandate, in New York on October 25, 2021. (Photo by ED JONES\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Gorsuch wrote that the Court was repeating the same mistake it made in a similar case <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/news\/supreme-court-declines-to-block-maine-vaccine-mandate\/\">involving<\/a> Maine healthcare workers by \u201cturning away New York\u2019s doctors and nurses.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe do all this even though the State\u2019s executive decree clearly interferes with the free exercise of religion\u2014and does so seemingly based on nothing more than fear and anger at those who harbor unpopular religious beliefs,\u201d he wrote. \u201cWe allow the State to insist on the dismissal of thousands of medical workers\u2014the very same individuals New York has depended on and praised for their service on the pandemic\u2019s front lines over the last 21 months.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>He added that the Court added \u201cinsult to injury\u201d by additionally allowing New York to deny healthcare workers unemployment benefits.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne can only hope today\u2019s ruling will not be the final chapter in this grim story. Cases like this one may serve as cautionary tales for those who follow. But how many more reminders do we need that \u201cthe Constitution is not to be obeyed or disobeyed as the circumstances of a particular crisis \u2026 may suggest?\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Conservative-leaning Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh sided with the liberal-leaning justices, though Barrett in a previous concurring opinion for the Maine case said her decision to block that request was because it was brought on the emergency docket or \u201cshadow docket.\u201d She argued that the Court should not use the emergency docket to handle such a case and to make a decision \u201con a short fuse without benefit of full briefing and oral argument.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Following the Supreme Court\u2019s decision, Thomas More Society Special Counsel Christopher Ferrara sent a statement to Breitbart News agreeing with Gorsuch\u2019s opinion and condemning \u201cNew York\u2019s naked oppression of a religious minority.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ferrara continued:<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<blockquote readability=\"26\">\n<p><span>In his searing 14-page dissent, clearly written for the history books, Justice Gorsuch rightly expresses his frustration over the Court\u2019s refusal to prevent the irreparable harm caused by a \u2018vaccine mandate\u2019 that targets religious objectors to COVID-19 vaccination in the health care workforce for professional destruction, denying them even unemployment benefits, because\u2014as the intolerant Governor of New York puts it\u2014they \u201care not doing what God wants.\u201d&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>It is astonishing that the Court tolerates this blatant invasion of religious freedom by a bigoted Governor and her health bureaucrats on the pretext of a never-ending \u2018emergency\u2019 that morphs as rapidly as the virus itself. And this for the sake of mandatory vaccination with vaccines everyone now knows have failed to prevent transmission of the virus. The word irrational only begins to describe the institutional insanity the Court should have restrained.<\/p>\n<p>One can only hope that, as the examples of this tyranny multiply and pile up on the Court\u2019s doorstep, the majority will finally do what it did last year in striking down New York\u2019s absurd church closures in the name of \u201cpublic health\u201d\u2014the right thing. Meanwhile, one can only agree with Justice Gorusch\u2019s assessment of the Court\u2019s refusal to act in the face of New York\u2019s naked oppression of a religious minority: \u2018Today, we do not just fail the applicants. We fail our\u00adselves.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3>The Making of a Mandate:<\/h3>\n<p>Before former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) stepped down following nearly a dozen sexual assault allegations, he proposed a vaccine mandate for healthcare workers which allowed for both religious and medical exemptions. Once he resigned, Lt. Gov. Hochul took over as governor and oversaw a rewriting of the mandate to exclude the option for religious exemptions.&nbsp;Around the same time, Hochul announced that New York was changing its unemployment insurance scheme, making healthcare workers who failed to comply with the mandate ineligible for unemployment insurance benefits.<\/p>\n<p>While New York\u2019s <span>Public Health and Health Planning Council<\/span> provided no reason for the change, Hochul herself publicly acknowledged that the change was \u201cintentional\u201d and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/faith\/2021\/09\/27\/watch-ny-gov-kathy-hochul-proclaims-unvaccinated-people-arent-listening-to-god\/\">said<\/a>&nbsp;those who forego the vaccine&nbsp;\u201caren\u2019t listening to God.\u201d Then she, a government official, likened herself to Jesus Christ in an effort to persuade people to get vaccinated.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<div id=\"attachment_18273402\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" readability=\"35\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/GettyImages-1342504608.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-18273402\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/GettyImages-1342504608.png\" alt=\"Kathy Hochul speaks onstage during Global Citizen Live, New York on September 25, 2021 in New York City. (Photo by Theo Wargo\/Getty Images for Global Citizen)\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kathy Hochul speaks onstage during Global Citizen Live, New York on September 25, 2021 in New York City. (Photo by Theo Wargo\/Getty Images for Global Citizen)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cI need you to be my apostles,\u201d the governor added, saying that receiving the treatment is how New Yorkers can \u201clove one another.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hochul, who claims to be a Catholic, \u201chas repeatedly pointed to statements by religious leaders who support vaccination: the Archdiocese of New York, for example, has told priests that granting religious exemptions would contradict Pope Francis,\u201d the&nbsp;<em>Associated Press<\/em>&nbsp;<a class=\"x5l\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/coronavirus-pandemic-business-new-york-health-72287faf1ccbe739df8826e51378d96a\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">reported<\/a>.&nbsp;Notably, Catholicism and&nbsp;Evangelical&nbsp;Christianity are not the same \u2014&nbsp;and a common tenet for all&nbsp;Protestants&nbsp;is they&nbsp;do not believe in the&nbsp;infallibility of the Pope or his recommendations \u2014&nbsp;but politicians often conflate the two to make the point.<\/p>\n<p>Moreover, while&nbsp;a majority of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit are Catholic, they are arguing they \u201chave longstanding constitutional protections based on their own religious belief \u2014 not statements by religious leaders,\u201d the report states.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B4\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>The <em>Wall Street Journal<\/em> in October reported that&nbsp;thousands of unvaccinated healthcare workers had been&nbsp;<a class=\"x5l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/religious-exemptions-to-vaccine-mandates-tested-in-new-york-case-11633613330\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">fired<\/a>&nbsp;since the mandate took effect, \u201cprompting hospitals to cancel elective surgeries and close operating rooms and outpatient clinics. Many nursing homes have stopped admitting new patients.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hochul at the time belatedly acknowledged healthcare worker shortages rocking the state, though instead of loosening the&nbsp;reins, she talked about&nbsp;<a title=\"This external link will open in a new window\" href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/politics\/2021\/09\/27\/new-york-governor-may-call-in-national-guard-to-cover-for-fired-unvaccinated-health-workers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">calling<\/a> on the National Guard&nbsp;and workers in other states to fill the void. New York Attorney General Letitia James has continued to hold that the vaccine mandate is not discriminatory against anyone\u2019s religious beliefs, court documents <a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/DocketPDF\/21\/21A145\/200108\/20211116150752855_21A145%20Br%20in%20Opposition.pdf\">show<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe rule\u2019s medical exemption is tightly constrained in both scope and duration, and it serves rather than undermines the rule\u2019s objective of protecting the health of healthcare workers,\u201d James argued.<\/p>\n<p>Gorsuch wholly disagreed, saying the state has \u201cnot even tried\u201d to present evidence proving James\u2019 point.<\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cMaybe the most telling evidence that New York\u2019s policy isn\u2019t narrowly tailored lies in how unique it is. It seems that nearly every other State has found that it can satisfy its COVID\u201319 public health goals without coercing religious objectors to accept a vaccine,\u201d he wrote. \u201c<\/span><span>New York has presented nothing to suggest that accommodating the religious objectors before us would make a meaningful difference to the protection of public health. The State has not even tried.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The case is&nbsp;<i>Dr. A v. Hochul<\/i>, 21A145 in the Supreme Court of the United States.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><em>Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on&nbsp;<a class=\"x5l\" title=\"This external link will open in a new window\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/katherineeeeee2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Twitter<\/a>.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to grant an emergency request from New York healthcare workers to block the state\u2019s coronavirus vaccine mandate, which includes the option to apply &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1119922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1119922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1119922"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1119922\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1119922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1119922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1119922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}