Amish receive another setback in vaccination fight

Despite Supreme Court advice, 2nd Circuit says Nyet to Religious Exemptions

Since this is an opinion column, I will say plainly that it is criminal what NYS is doing
to innocent children, and I can’t blame the Amish for wanting to flee the state!

Back in December of 2025, I wrote a column celebrating an apparent US Supreme Court victory for the NYS Amish community in their fight against mandatory vaccination in their private schools. Although the court did not take the case, they remanded it back to the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, granting an injunction against the enforcement of over $100,000 in fines that the NYS health Department had imposed on the small rural schools.

The Supremes advised the 2nd Circuit to “re-consider” their decision in light of their decision in Mahmoud v. Taylor, 606 U. S. 522 (2025). The clear implication of that advice was that the law throwing out religious exemptions should be judged according to “Strict Scrutiny” instead of the more lenient standard of whether the state had a “Rational Basis” for their decision.

Unfortunately, although perhaps not surprisingly, the 2nd Circuit based in Vaccine-Crazed NYC did not take the hint. In a 38-page decision, the same 3-judge panel came to the same conclusions that the Amish claim should be judged by the “Rational Basis” standard and affirmed their earlier decision upholding the District Courts dismissal of the case.

I am not sure how the Circuit Court decides who hears these remands, but it would seem that taking a fresh look at things might involve employing a different set of judges from the ones whose original decision was overturned. It looks like the fix was in!

I am sorry to say that among the unanimous panel was Livingston County native Judge Richard Wesley who I have known for over 40 years. Dick served as the NYS State Assemblyman in this rock-ribbed Republican district from 1982-1986 before diverting to a judicial career. I am not sure how he squares his so-called Conservative principles with coercing Amish children to take medications that are against their religious beliefs.

In reading the decision, they dragged out the old 1905 precedent of Jacobson vs, Massachusetts again. As I wrote during my own litigation against Covid regulations back in 2022, that precedent has been stretched beyond all recognition and is due for a full review in light of modern science that has re-defined the meaning of vaccination.

It is cloying to read the court earnestly intone that they are upholding the law to “protect the children,” when we know from recent history that healthy children have no need to be vaccinated against Covid, and many who did get the shot have suffered great medical harm. The Risk vs Reward ratio is upside down on the Covid shots, and who is a better judge of whether to take those risks than the parents?

Certainly not 2nd Circuit Judges in their Ivy Towers, as they count the number of angels on the head of a pin in trying to justify avoiding the clear instructions of the Supreme Court of the land. Hopefully the Amish will go back to the High Court for another attempt, and this time the court will take the case for a full review and uphold the importance of religious and medical freedom, once and for all!