The Department of Justice just filed a brief asking the Supreme Court to dismiss the case of 1,500 healthcare workers who were fired from their jobs in New York for refusing the COVID vaccine on religious grounds — and if you're wondering whose side the federal government is on, it sure as hell isn't yours.
That's right. The same government that told you the shot was "safe and effective," that you were a grandma-killer if you didn't roll up your sleeve, now wants the highest court in the land to pretend these people don't exist. Nothing to see here, folks.
The case, docketed as No. 24-1015, has been sitting before the Supreme Court for 14 months. The Court actually solicited the DOJ's opinion six months ago — practically begging the feds to weigh in. And after all that time, the DOJ's answer was essentially: nah, skip it. Vaccine injury lawyer Aaron Siri, who has been fighting for the fired workers, called the DOJ's filing a "word salad of nonsense" and accused the department of "betraying religious liberty." Hard to argue with the man.
Here's what happened. Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul's New York imposed a vaccine mandate under Section 2.61 that gave healthcare workers virtually no room for religious exemptions. You either took the jab or you lost your livelihood. One of the plaintiffs had worked remotely at New York-Presbyterian for 10 years — never saw a patient, never breathed on a coworker — and still got fired for saying no.
Liberty Counsel brought the case on behalf of the workers, arguing the mandate violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. The 2nd Circuit ruled against them, essentially saying that asking for a complete religious exemption was too much to ask of an employer. The workers appealed to the Supreme Court, citing the Court's own 2023 Groff precedent that was supposed to strengthen religious accommodation rights.
And then the DOJ swooped in and said the Court shouldn't bother.
Let's be clear about the timeline here. The Supreme Court considered this case eight times over seven months before even asking for the government's position. That's not a frivolous petition — that's a case the justices were clearly interested in. Justices Neil Gorsuch, Samuel Alito, and Clarence Thomas have all signaled concern about COVID-era religious liberty violations. The DOJ just told them to look the other way.
This is the same federal government, mind you, that pushed these mandates in the first place. The same apparatus that fired people, destroyed careers, broke families — all over a vaccine that even former FDA Commissioner Marty Makary acknowledged fell far short of what was promised. The receipts are in. The mandates were wrong. And instead of letting the Supreme Court say so, the DOJ wants to bury the whole thing.
As reported by Just The News, this brief represents a stunning contradiction for an administration that claims to champion religious freedom. Kentucky GOP Representative Thomas Massie has been sounding the alarm about these kinds of betrayals for months.
Here's my prediction: Gorsuch, Alito, and Thomas aren't going to let this slide. This case has "cert granted" written all over it. But the fact that the DOJ — under a Republican president — filed this brief at all tells you everything you need to know about how deep the rot goes in the federal bureaucracy.
They fired you for saying no. They don't even want a court to hear you say why.