On Dec. 27, 2021, all private employers in New York City are required to have their employees vaccinated. This mandate extends the requirement which had been imposed on City workers to private sector employees. Before it even took effect, the Governor’s mandate order was immediately challenged in court. In the Western District of New York, the District Court issued an injunction against the enforcement of the mandate without opinion, 2021 WL 4734404, *8 (NDNY Oct. 12, 2021), while the Eastern District denied the request for a preliminary injunction. We the Patriots USA v. Hochul, No. 21-cv-4954 (EDNY Sept. 12, 2021). The Second Circuit affirmed the Eastern District and overruled the Western District decisions, 17 F.4th 368 (2d Cir. 2021) (per curiam).

On Dec. 13, 2021, the Supreme Court denied certiorari in Dr. A et al. v. Hochul, 595 U.S. (2021). In a lengthy dissent Justice Gorsuch, joined by Justice Alito, stated that these applicants are not “anti-vaxxers” who object to all vaccines, but people who decline to receive a COVID-19 vaccine because their religion teaches them to oppose abortion in any form and because “each of the currently available vaccines has depended on abortion-derived fetal cells in its production or testing they have a valid religious objection to the taking of the vaccine” (id.) and thus the state law should be overturned because it does not have a religious exemption. The applicants recognize that “many other religious believers feel differently than they do.” However, Justice Gorsuch goes on, no one doubts their religious beliefs.

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