The Supreme Court has upheld a 2021 Connecticut law that removes the state’s religious exemption for childhood vaccinations required for school attendance. The decision, made on Monday, means students in Connecticut will no longer be able to claim religious reasons to avoid vaccinations, except for existing exemptions held by current K-12 students.
This ruling follows a previous decision by a federal appeals court, which had also upheld the law. The law was challenged in court, with opponents arguing it infringed on religious freedoms. However, a lower court had already dismissed this lawsuit, leading to the appeals and eventually the Supreme Court’s decision not to intervene.
Connecticut’s law mandates vaccinations for students enrolling in schools, colleges, and daycare facilities, with some allowances for medical exemptions. Before 2021, the state permitted religious exemptions, but lawmakers voted to eliminate these due to concerns about rising exemption requests and declining vaccination rates in certain schools.
Attorney General William Tong praised the ruling, emphasizing that it was a crucial step in protecting public health. He stated that the legislature acted responsibly to safeguard Connecticut families from preventable diseases, and the courts have affirmed this stance.
Not everyone agrees with the decision. Brian Festa, vice president of We The Patriots USA Inc., expressed his disappointment but vowed to continue fighting for religious exemptions. His group, which has previously challenged other vaccination mandates, argued that the law discriminates against religious believers and threatens their rights to medical freedom and child-rearing.
The legal battle isn’t entirely over. There’s still an active part of the case concerning a single plaintiff’s claim under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
While the Attorney General’s office is confident this claim will be dismissed, Festa argues that federal law requires schools to provide appropriate education for children with disabilities, even if they claim a religious exemption to vaccinations.
In addition to this, We The Patriots USA is pursuing another federal lawsuit on behalf of a Christian preschool and daycare, challenging Connecticut’s vaccine mandate on constitutional grounds. The group remains committed to their cause, determined to fight on multiple fronts and not put all their efforts into a single case.
Festa described the Supreme Court’s decision as a setback but far from a total defeat. He assured supporters that their efforts to restore religious exemptions for schoolchildren would continue despite this recent ruling.
