SCOTUS Denies Anti-Vax Appeals from Firefighters, Health Care Workers

Trump’s Supreme Court is telling at least a few MAGA whiners to shut up. In addition to declining to hear some smirking chimps’ appeal of a school ban on vulgar “Let’s Go Brandon” shirts, SCOTUS last week turned away appeals from anti-vax radicals who tried to put their ill-informed selfishness above public health:

Federal law prohibits employers from discriminating against workers for practicing their religion unless the employer can show that the worker’s religious practice cannot “reasonably” be accommodated without “undue hardship.” Three years ago, in Groff v. DeJoy, the Supreme Court ruled an “undue hardship” is one that imposes a “substantial” burden “in the overall context of an employer’s business.” On Monday, the Supreme Court denied review in Petersen v. Snohomish Regional Fire and Rescue, a dispute over the standard that employers must meet to justify denying an employee’s request for a religious accommodation.

The case stems from the mandate, imposed by Washington state in 2021, that healthcare workers be vaccinated for COVID-19. The plaintiffs, eight firefighters for Snohomish Regional Fire and Rescue, requested an accommodation from that requirement based on their religious beliefs, but the department determined that it could not provide the accommodation.

The firefighters went to federal court in Seattle, where they argued that the department’s failure to accommodate their religious beliefs violated federal and state anti-discrimination laws. A federal judge ruled for the department, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit upheld that decision. A three-judge panel agreed that the fire department would have faced an “undue hardship” if it were required to accommodate the firefighters’ request for an exemption from the vaccine requirement. “The objective, unrebutted medical evidence shows that SRFR would have faced significant health and safety costs by allowing unvaccinated firefighters to continue working, even with accommodations,” the panel wrote. And “SRFR,” the panel continued, “could not afford to have substantial numbers of its firefighters on sick leave.”

…The justices also denied review in Roberts v. Ferguson, a separate dispute on COVID-19 vaccine rules in Washington state. In their petition for review, former employees of Shriners Hospitals for Children had urged the Supreme Court to take up their case and hold that the state and health system violated the 14th Amendment when they required health care workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19 because the mandate “required consent under coercion” and involved vaccines that had not been fully reviewed and approved by the FDA.

Monday’s denial leaves in place a 9th Circuit ruling dismissing the former employees’ case [Kelsey Dallas and Amy Howe, “Court Declines to Hear Cases on ‘Let’s Go Brandon’ Sweatshirts, Felons’ Second Amendment Rights, COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates, and Other Notable Issues,” SCOTUSblog, 2026.10.05].

My employer doesn’t have to mandate me to get my shots. I’ve gotten covid shots every year since they became available, and I haven’t sprouted horns or suffered other mutations yet. I just made my appointment for my yearly boost; if you haven’t, don’t make a federal case out of it; just get your shots!