The Department of Justice is urging the Supreme Court to dismiss the case of healthcare workers who were fired for refusing the COVID vaccine on religious grounds — because apparently ruining people's lives and then pretending it never happened is official government policy now. Five lead plaintiffs and more than 1,500 additional workers lost their jobs, their livelihoods, and in some cases their careers. And the DOJ's position is: move along, nothing to see here.
The audacity is genuinely breathtaking. Even for Washington.
The case — docket number 24-1015 — involves New York healthcare workers who were fired after Governor Kathy Hochul's administration revoked the state's initial religious exemption from the COVID vaccine mandate. Not narrowed it. Not modified it. Revoked it entirely. Section 2.61 of New York's mandate didn't just require vaccination — it banned healthcare workers from even seeking any accommodation for their religious beliefs. If your faith said no, New York said you're fired.
The state went further. Facilities that dared grant religious accommodations were threatened with daily fines of up to $100,000 and outright closure. That's not a mandate. That's a threat.
These workers fought back. Liberty Counsel took the case through the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, which upheld the mandate. They petitioned the Supreme Court 14 months ago. The court considered the case eight times over seven months. Justices Neil Gorsuch, Samuel Alito, and Clarence Thomas have all signaled interest. And yet the docket sat empty for more than six months before the DOJ finally responded — not with a defense of the mandate, but with a request to make the whole thing go away.
The DOJ's argument? A "word salad of nonsense," according to vaccine injury lawyer Aaron Siri. The feds tried to draw a distinction between a "complete exemption" and a mere "accommodation" under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act — as if the nurses and doctors who were escorted out of hospitals care about the government's semantic games. One male plaintiff had worked remotely for 10 years and had prior religious exemptions revoked. Female plaintiffs reported that their employers made no distinction whatsoever between exemption and accommodation. You said no to the shot, you were gone.
Former SNL cast member Rob Schneider, now a vocal conservative activist, called the DOJ's move a "stunning betrayal to ALL the MAHA supporters." Kentucky GOP Representative Thomas Massie dubbed the broader pattern "Trump Disappointment Syndrome" — a crack that earned him the label of "the worst congressman the Republican Party's ever had" from Trump himself.
As Just The News reported, the case has drawn support from America's Frontline Doctors, who filed a friend-of-the-court brief. The employer defendant, New York-Presbyterian, has remained largely silent while the DOJ does the heavy lifting of trying to bury the case.
Let's be clear about what's happening here. The government forced healthcare workers — the same people we called "heroes" and banged pots for at 7 PM every night — to choose between a needle and a paycheck. Between their faith and feeding their families. And when those workers had the nerve to fight back through the legal system, the same government that destroyed their careers is now asking the highest court in the land to look the other way.
That's not justice. That's a cover-up in a suit and tie.
These 1,500 workers deserve their day in court. The DOJ knows it. The justices know it. And every American who was told "comply or else" during COVID knows it too. The only question is whether the Supreme Court has the spine to hear what the government desperately wants silenced.