03.21.22

Hoeven Joins Amicus Brief in Support of Workers Seeking Religious Exemptions from COVID Vaccine Mandates

WASHINGTON – Senator John Hoeven joined Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and other Senators in filing an amicus brief at the U.S. Supreme Court in support of the petition for certiorari in Dr. A. v. Hochul. Health care employees with religious objections to COVID-19 vaccines sued to prevent loss of employment and unemployment benefits, noting comments by the Governor of New York that those with religious objections to the vaccine “aren’t listening to God and what God wants.” Dr. A. v. Hochul is a First Amendment case challenging the State of New York’s failure to permit religious exemptions to its COVID-19 vaccine mandate for state and private health care employees.

“This Court should grant certiorari and reverse the decision,” the senators wrote. “New York’s mandate cannot stand. The mandate represents a calculated effort to prevent the religious accommodation process that the Constitution and Congress have long required."

In addition to Hoeven and Rubio, the brief was filed by Senators John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), and Rick Scott (R-Fla.) 

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