U.S. Supreme Court rejects challenge to Maine COVID-19 vaccine mandate

[dalton99a]

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-supreme-court-rejects-challenge-maine-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-2022-02-22/

U.S. Supreme Court rejects challenge to Maine COVID-19 vaccine mandate
By Lawrence Hurley

WASHINGTON, Feb 22 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday turned away a challenge to Maine's COVID-19 vaccine mandate for healthcare workers, rebuffing for the second time a group of plaintiffs who sought a religious exemption.

The justices rejected a request made on behalf of unnamed plaintiffs identifying themselves as Maine healthcare workers who objected to the vaccinations on religious grounds. The court in November rejected an emergency request by the same plaintiffs seeking to prevent Maine from enforcing the mandate against them. They are represented by a Christian legal advocacy group.

The court previously rejected other challenges to vaccine mandates including one focusing upon New York's lack of religious exemptions for healthcare workers.

The justices in January blocked President Joe Biden's COVID-19 vaccination-or-testing mandate for large businesses - a policy the conservative justices deemed an improper imposition on the lives and health of many Americans - while endorsing a separate federal vaccine requirement for healthcare workers at facilities that accept money from the Medicare and Medicaid government insurance programs.