Key Cases
COVID-19
Religious Exemption to States' Mandatory Vaccination
Statute Not Necessary
In Does 1-6 v. Mills, No. 1:21-cv-00242, 2021 WL
4783626 (D. Me. Oct. 13, 2021), the court denied injunctive relief
to plaintiff healthcare workers and providers who sued, alleging
that a state regulation requiring all employees of designated
healthcare facilities to be vaccinated, subject to a medical
exemption but no religious exemption, violated the Free Exercise
Clause and Title VII. The court determined that the state statute,
22 M.R.S.A. § 802 (1989), was amended to remove the religious
exemption before the pandemic, did not prevent healthcare workers
from exercising their religious beliefs (although they might lose
their jobs), and did not advantage secular philosophical or
politically based objections to the mandate. It also determined
that exempting individuals for medical reasons was an essential
part of a public health response as compared to exempting them
