Does v. Mills
Petition for certiorari denied on February 22, 2022
Issue: (1) Whether a state governor"s order mandating that private healthcare employers, on penalty of revocation of their business licenses, terminate their healthcare workers who are not fully vaccinated for COVID-19, and deny any worker"s request for religious accommodation from the mandate while allowing medical exemptions from the mandate, violates the employers" and employees" rights under the free exercise clause of the First Amendment; (2) whether, under the supremacy clause of the United States Constitution, a state governor"s order mandating that private healthcare employers, on penalty of revocation of their business licenses, terminate their healthcare workers who are not fully vaccinated for COVID-19 with no opportunity for any worker to seek a religious accommodation from the mandate, is preempted by the religious accommodation provisions of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; and (3) whether Article III courts have incidental equitable powers to grant preliminary injunctive relief to employees in aid of their Title VII remedies when the harm suffered by the employees in the absence of injunctive relief has a chilling effect on their religious free exercise and protection from religious discrimination.
SCOTUSblog Coverage
- Trumps steel tariffs, UNC affirmative action, and Maines COVID-19 vaccine mandate (Andrew Hamm, December 3, 2021)
- Court turns away religious challenge to Maines vaccine mandate for health care workers (James Romoser, October 30, 2021)