Overview
- The Supreme Court refused to hear Doe v. Hochul on Monday, June 29, 2026, leaving the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision in place.
- The 2nd Circuit held that granting the workers’ requested religious exemptions would have forced employers to violate New York’s vaccine rule and therefore imposed an undue hardship as a matter of law.
- New York issued the emergency healthcare-worker vaccine rule in 2021 and rescinded it in October 2023, so the immediate practical impact on the plaintiffs is limited.
- The fired healthcare workers argued their employers violated Title VII by denying religious accommodations, while state officials and hospitals said the rule allowed alternative measures such as reassignment to roles with lower patient exposure.
- Justices Gorsuch, Thomas and Alito dissented from the denial and warned the lower-court rule could let state public-health laws override federal civil-rights protections and deepen a circuit split that the high court has left unresolved.