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The U.S. Supreme Court today declined for a second time to take up a case brought by New York healthcare workers who lost their jobs after the state denied their requests for religious accommodations from its COVID-19 vaccine mandate, SCOTUSblog reported.
The justices rejected a petition asking them to reconsider their June decision not to hear Does 1-2 v. Hochul, the lawsuit healthcare workers brought against the state. The court denied the request without asking New York Gov. Kathy Hochul to respond.
“This ruling is definitely a sad day for the workers who stood up and said no,” said Michael Kane, Children’s Health Defense (CHD) director of advocacy and member of New York’s Teachers for Choice, which also challenged New York’s vaccine mandate in the courts.
Kane said he was “not surprised” by the decision.
The plaintiffs represented a handful of healthcare workers, he said. “But over 30,000 were fired in New York state because of this horrendous policy from Gov. Hochul. The policy didn’t allow for any religious exemption from vaccination. On its face, it is illegal. It is unconstitutional, but the politics of the thing seems to be playing out instead.”
The workers filed their lawsuit in 2021, challenging a now-repealed New York state law mandating that workers in some healthcare-related positions get the COVID-19 vaccine.
In 2022, a federal court dismissed the lawsuit, and in 2024, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal. In 2025, the workers appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
In an unusual move, the Supreme Court asked the U.S. Department of Justice solicitor general to weigh in. In May 2026, Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote an amicus brief recommending the court deny the appeal.
The Supreme Court initially declined to review the case on June 29, but three justices — Neil Gorsuch, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito — said they would have heard it.
In his dissent, joined by Thomas and Alito, Gorsuch argued that the case presented an “important and recurring question of federal law that warrants this Court’s attention.”
At issue is the relationship between state vaccine requirements and federal protections for employees’ religious practices under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
Title VII requires employers to reasonably accommodate an employee’s religious observance or practice unless doing so would impose an “undue hardship” on the employer’s business. The appeals court concluded that such a hardship was faced because the employers would have faced penalties for failing to comply with state laws.
After the Supreme Court rejected their original petition, the healthcare workers asked the court on July 23 to reconsider.
They argued that the 2nd Circuit continues to incorrectly take the position that federal anti-discrimination protections must yield to contrary state laws — a factor that SCOTUSblog said the Supreme Court often considers when granting review.
This morning, the Supreme Court turned down the workers’ request.
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Attorney Sujata Gibson, who has represented healthcare and education workers who sued New York over vaccine mandates, told The Defender the court’s decision not to rehear the case is “deeply disappointing.”
However, she said, “it should not be mistaken for an endorsement of the 2nd Circuit’s reasoning. A denial of certiorari does not decide the merits, and Justice Gorsuch — joined by Justices Thomas and Alito — already explained why the question presented is both important and deserving of Supreme Court review.”
Gibson said that even the solicitor general, who recommended the Court dismiss the case, agreed with the workers’ central legal premise.
“If state law forecloses the religious accommodations required by Title VII, the state law must yield, and an employer cannot rely on that conflicting state law to escape its federal civil-rights obligations,” Gibson said.
Related articles in The Defender
- DOJ Sides With Employers Who Fired Healthcare Workers Over COVID Vaccine Mandate
- ‘Demonized and Ostracized’: Worker Fired Over COVID Shot Testifies Before Religious Freedom Commission
- Breaking: Congress Members Urge DOJ to Investigate 4 States That Prohibit Religious Exemptions
- ‘Right These Wrongs’: CHD Asks Sen. Moreno to Seek Justice for Workers Fired Under COVID Vaccine Mandates
- New York Teachers Vow to Keep Fighting After Supreme Court Turns Down Religious Exemptions Case
- Fired New York Workers Who Sued City Over COVID Vaccine Mandates Say New Rehiring Plan Falls Short, Urge Supreme Court to Hear Their Case
