News Release
For Immediate Release: 12.8.25
Contact: John Manning, media@firstliberty.org
Direct: 972-941-4453
U.S. Supreme Court Vacates Lower Court Decision that Allows State to Force Amish to Vaccinate Children
The Court rejects decision that threatens existence of Amish community in New York State.
Washington, D.C.—The Supreme Court of the United States today vacated and remanded a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit that permits the State of New York to compel Amish schoolchildren—who attend private Amish-only schools in rural Amish communities removed from the modern world—to receive vaccinations in violation of their sincerely held religious beliefs in order to attend Amish community schools.
In vacating the Second Circuit’s decision, the Court instructed the appellate court to reconsider the case in light of the Supreme Court’s decision earlier this year in Mahmoud v. Taylor, which held the government violated the Free Exercise rights of parents whose elementary students were forced to participate in activities contrary to their religious beliefs. First Liberty Institute represents the Amish schools involved.
“The Amish community in New York wants to be left alone to live out their faith just like they have for 200 years,” said Kelly Shackelford, President, CEO, and Chief Counsel at First Liberty. “The Amish take their faith very seriously and are simply asking the State of New York to respect their sincerely held beliefs.”
For over 50 years, from 1966 until 2019, New York accommodated religious beliefs by granting religious exemptions from the State’s school vaccination requirements. But New York repealed its religious exemption for vaccine mandates for school children in June of 2019. In 2022, the State brought an enforcement action against the Amish Appellants, imposing catastrophic penalties. For religious reasons, the Amish educate their children in private Amish schools and have done so for hundreds of years and without vaccinations. The Amish lost in the district court and appealed. This case implicates the foundational First and Fourteenth Amendment question whether the State of New York can compel Amish schoolchildren living in remote Amish communities to receive vaccinations that conflict with their sincerely held religious beliefs and Amish way of life.
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About First Liberty Institute
First Liberty Institute is a non-profit public interest law firm and the largest legal organization in the nation dedicated exclusively to defending religious freedom for all Americans.
To arrange an interview, contact John Manning at media@firstliberty.org or by calling 972-941-4453.
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