High Court Shadow Docket Delivers Silent Blow to the First Amendment

https://medium.com/@fightthefeds/scotus-rejects-ny-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-challenge-b6d6d880282c

Gorsuch Issues a Blistering Dissent in COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate Ruling

The Supreme Court issued shadowy denial of several NY physicians’ challenge to the New York vaccine mandate. The opinion amounted to one sentence concluding with the word:

DENIED

The dissent was a fourteen page onslaught against the reckless nature of the mandate, its lack of clarity, and its infringement of the first amendment. The applicants were not “anti-vaxers but rather cited deeply held religious beliefs that reject abortion in any form. Given that the vaccine uses fetal cells in production and testing the applicants refused.

Justice Gorsuch’s COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate Dissent

Justice Gorsuch, authoring for the dissent described how the mandate came into place. One day before Governor Cuomo left office the State’s Public Health and Health Planning Counsel proposed the mandate and removed the religious exemption but failed to state their reasons for doing so.

In response to a reporter’s question 12 days before the mandate was set to take place Governor Hochul elected to speak for every religion in the United States by stating “there is no sanctioned religious exemption from any organized religion.” The Governor further claimed that religions were stating the opposite — that they wanted everyone to take the vaccine. The governor later elaborated “how can you believe that God would give a vaccine that would cause you harm?” Again just a day before the mandate took effect the Governor proclaimed that objections to the vaccines are “theologically flawed”.

To make matters worse, the Governor elected to strip unemployment compensation from workers who refused the vaccine and were terminated.

Justice Gorsuch correctly identifies in the dissent that the “free exercise clause” protects not only the right to hold unpopular religious beliefs inwardly and secretly — it protects the right to live out those beliefs publicly in the performance of physical acts”. The Court has traditionally struck down laws that threaten religion if there is even a slight suspicion that those actions stem from animosity to religion or distrust of its practices. The NY Governor’s actions here are overtly animus.

In an overt slight to religious practices the New York law rejects religious challenges while permitting medical exemptions for a broad range of reasons. Coupled with the fact that nearly every other vaccine mandate permits a religious exemption — New York is not in good company.

Justice Gorsuch took a bold position but regrettably not one that would save the First Amendment from the court’s shadow docket. This case was not just a rejection of a vaccine challenge it cosigned the practices of a government who holds its knowledge and authority higher than that of the constitution.

Filed under: General Problems