The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a case Monday challenging Connecticut legislation that repealed religious exemptions for school vaccine requirements in 2021.
In a lawsuit, three Connecticut parents and two organizations, We the Patriots USA, Inc., and the CT Freedom Alliance, had argued that the state was violating their First Amendment rights with its passage of Public Act 21-6, which eliminated the ability for Connecticut families to apply for a religious exemption to mandated immunizations when a student is enrolling in school. The plaintiffs sued the state departments of education and public health, the Office of Early Childhood Development and three local boards of education.
The decision from the Supreme Court puts an end to a three-year legal battle after decisions by the district court and U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that ruled in the state’s favor.
“This is the end of the road to a challenge to Connecticut’s lifesaving and fully lawful vaccine requirements,” said Attorney General William Tong in a news release. “We have said all along, and the courts have affirmed — the legislature acted responsibly and well within its authority to protect the health of Connecticut families and to stop the spread of preventable disease.”
We the Patriots USA, Inc. is a nonprofit that focuses on “reclaim[ing] our God-given inalienable rights — including but not limited to the rights recorded in the United States Constitution — through litigation, education, and advocacy,” according to its website.
Brian Festa, co-founder and vice president of the nonprofit, called the Supreme Court’s decision “disappointing,” and “heinous.”
“Right now, someone might be on one side of the political aisle or on a spectrum when it comes to the issue of vaccinations, but then there might be something else that they object to for religious reasons that they’re not allowed to object to anymore,” Festa said. “If you keep having ruling like this, what it does is, it sets the precedent that you’re not allowed to refuse things for any reason, for personal reasons, religious reasons, anything — if the state mandates something, puts something in your body — you have to do it.”
In April 2021, Connecticut became the fourth state to pass a law ending a religious exemption for school vaccinations, following California in 2015 and New York and Maine in 2019.
By grandfathering any K-12 student who already had an exemption, the Connecticut law initiated a phase-out, not an immediate ban. The grandfather provision did not extend to daycares and preschools.
Senate President Pro Tem Martin M. Looney, D-New Haven, and Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, D-Norwalk, said the 2021 legislation had closed “a loophole for non-medical vaccine exemptions” and “embraced a common sense vaccination policy that protects the health and safety of all students.”
“This law has now withstood legal scrutiny at every level of our judicial system, and its perseverance represents a victory for parents and students, who are less likely to be infected by preventable illnesses,” the two lawmakers said in a joint statement.
But the battle is not over for Festa’s organization.
Festa said one claim from the case remains active within the district court regarding students with disabilities and whether “special needs children are entitled to receive an education, even if they opt out of vaccinations.”
“We are not fighting only for children whose parents refuse all vaccinations. It might just be one or two particular vaccinations,” Festa said. “And to have your child denied education and all services, especially a special needs child, simply because you opted out of one or two vaccinations, is just to me, appalling and really tragic for these children.”
Tong’s office says they’re “confident that the IDEA claim will be dismissed by the District Court on remand.”
We the Patriots Inc. has a second case pending on behalf of Milford Christian Church and whether a church can honor religious exemptions in its private day cares and schools.