Liberty Counsel will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review Does 1-3 v. Hochul on behalf of three New York health care workers who were fired for refusing to take the COVID shot due to their deeply held religious convictions. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals recently denied the health care workers’ discrimination claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and dismissed their case on the grounds it is “moot” since New York had previously rescinded its shot mandate. However, this decision conflicts with other appeals court rulings upholding similar Title VII claims. This means there is a circuit court split on the issue that SCOTUS should resolve immediately to protect the religious rights of health care workers. 

The goal of the petition would be to reverse a lower court’s dismissal and allow the case to proceed to a discovery phase and trial, and ultimately prevent the state and health care employers from evading liability for unlawfully discriminating against and firing the health care workers. The health care workers seek justice for being fired for refusing to take the harmful and experimental COVID shot due to their religious faith being incompatible with accepting any shot associated with aborted fetal cell lines.

In this case, New York’s COVID-19 mandate required that state employers force employees to get the shot, but unlawfully denied religious exemptions while approving nonreligious medical exemptions. While Title VII prohibits this discrimination, the Second Circuit held that employers did not violate Title VII because granting a religious exemption would have violated the state’s mandate for every employee to get the shot. This directly conflicts with other decisions from the Second, Fourth, Sixth, Seventh, Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Circuit Courts of Appeal, which ruled that state laws must yield to federal laws regarding discrimination requirements.

For instance, in July 2024, the Seventh Circuit ruled 2-1 that two former health care workers in Wisconsin could move forward with their claim that they were unlawfully denied a religious exemption from receiving the COVID-19 vaccine under Title VII. In May 2024, a unanimous Eighth Circuit panel revived a lawsuit for health care workers terminated by the Mayo Clinic for refusing the shot on religious grounds.

Liberty Counsel represents the three health care workers against Governor Kathy Hochul, Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Howard A. Zucker, Trinity Health, Inc., New York Presbyterian Healthcare System, Inc., and Westchester Medical Center Advanced Physician Services, P.C.

While the State of New York argues the case is now “moot” since it rescinded the mandate, Liberty Counsel contends that the mootness argument does not apply to the Title VII employment law since the injury has already occurred in the past. Essentially, Liberty Counsel argues the case is not moot since the “constitutional injury” suffered by the health care workers cannot be undone or ignored, and involuntarily ceasing questionable behavior is insufficient grounds for the state to evade judicial review.

In the last several years, the New York Supreme Court (a trial court) has struck down several COVID shot mandates for state health care workers and New York City (NYC) employees declaring the mandates “arbitrary and capricious.” As a result, both the State of New York and NYC officially repealed their mandates. One judge went a step further and declared the “blanket” denial of religious exemptions was also “arbitrary, capricious, and unreasonable” and has ordered nearly 9,000 NYC workers reinstated who were unlawfully terminated for refusing to abide by the illegal mandate. 

Liberty Counsel stated, “[W]hen the government ceases a challenged policy without renouncing it, the voluntary cessation is less likely to moot the case,” wrote Liberty Counsel. “[A] defendant’s failure to acknowledge wrongdoing similarly suggests that cessation is motivated by a desire to avoid liability, and furthermore ensures that a live dispute between the parties remains.”

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “Petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court is the next step to obtain relief for these health care workers against the illegal actions by the State of New York.  This case is not moot. The State of New York forced health care workers to choose between their livelihoods and their religious convictions without any consideration for accommodation. The New York Supreme Court has already judged COVID mandates and religious exemption denials as unlawful. SCOTUS can resolve the appeals court split and allow those responsible for unlawful religious exemption denials and firings to undergo appropriate judicial scrutiny for their actions.”