Amish families in upstate New York are asking the U.S. Supreme Court, for a second time, to strike down the state’s school vaccine requirements. The case could reach back to a Wisconsin precedent.
New York ended religious exemptions to school vaccinations in 2019, after a measles outbreak. Since then, every student in a public, private or parochial school must be vaccinated unless a doctor grants a medical exemption.
Three Amish community schools refused to comply. These are one-room schoolhouses on private land that take no public money. In 2022 the state Health Department fined them a combined $118,000: $52,000 for Dygert Road School, $46,000 for Pleasant View School and $20,000 for Shady Lane School. Each unvaccinated child counted as a separate violation, at up to $2,000 each.
An administrative law judge had recommended no penalties, noting the repeal notice was posted only online, where the Amish could not see it. The health commissioner imposed the fines anyway.
The schools and parents sued. They lost in federal district court and at the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The Supreme Court then sent the case back for another look in light of its 2025 Mahmoud v. Taylor parental-rights ruling. On June 30, the 2nd Circuit upheld the law again, finding it applies neutrally to all students.
On June 30, the 2nd Circuit upheld the law again, ruling that the vaccine requirement does not burden Amish religious practice the way the curriculum did in Mahmoud
The new petition argues New York singles out the Amish while tolerating tens of thousands of noncompliant public school students. That figure is the plaintiffs’ estimate. The courts have so far rejected the selective-enforcement claim.
The families also cite Wisconsin v. Yoder, the 1972 Supreme Court decision that exempted Wisconsin Amish children from compulsory high school attendance.
Their attorneys say that if New York prevails, many Amish families may leave the state.
Sources
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