Appeals court upholds Connecticut ban on religious exemptions

(The Center Square) – A federal appeals court has upheld a 2021 Connecticut law banning religious exemptions for immunization requirements for schools, colleges and early education, but critics of the restrictions are vowing to take their case to the Supreme Court.

In the 2-1 ruling issued on Friday, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed a lower court ruling that rejected a lawsuit challenging the repeal of the state’s long-held religious exemptions to childhood vaccines. 

“Only one court — state or federal, trial or appellate — has ever found plausible a claim of a constitutional defect in a state’s school vaccination mandate on account of the absence or repeal of a religious exemption,” the panel’s majority wrote in the 69-page ruling. “We decline to disturb this nearly unanimous consensus.”

The lawsuit, filed by We the Patriots USA Inc. on behalf of parents whose children attend a Christian school, argued that Connecticut violated their First Amendment rights by removing the religious exemption from school vaccination requirements.

Brian Festa, the group’s co-founder and vice president, issued a statement saying he “respectfully disagrees” with the court majority’s conclusion that the state’s ban doesn’t violate religious freedom under the First Amendment or the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection. He vowed to continue with the legal challenge.

“We fully intend to seek review of this decision in the United States Supreme Court, to obtain equal justice for all children — not only in Connecticut, but in every state in the nation,” he said.

The 2021 law eliminated religious exemptions for students required to receive certain immunizations before enrolling in school. The state still allows medical exemptions for vaccines, and under the update, kindergarten through 12th grade students who had already received such exemptions were “grandfathered.”

In a dissent from the court majority’s opinion, Judge Joseph Bianco argued that Connecticut “failed to meet its burden” of proving that the repeal of the religious exemption was necessary to protect public health.

“Not only is the majority opinion’s holding incorrect at this stage, given the factual allegations in this case, but its analysis also has troubling implications for the future of the Free Exercise Clause as it relates to all types of vaccination requirements for students and other members of the public, including for COVID19,” he wrote.

Democratic Attorney General William Tong, whose office defended the law, called the appeals court decision a “full and resounding affirmation of the constitutionality and legality of Connecticut’s vaccine requirements.”

“Vaccines save lives — this is a fact beyond dispute,” Tong said in a statement. “The legislature acted responsibly and well within its authority to protect the health of Connecticut families and stop the spread of preventable disease.”

But Festa said critics of the requirements will press ahead with their legal challenge, taking their appeal to the Supreme Court’s conservative majority for consideration.

“We are confident that we will prevail on appeal to the Supreme Court, and that this dark period of religious discrimination in this country will finally come to a close,” he said.