CLYMER, N.Y. (WKBW) — A legal battle over school vaccine requirements is unfolding in Western New York, where an Amish school in Chautauqua County is at the center of a case that could reach the U.S. Supreme Court for a second time.
The case challenges New York’s decision to eliminate religious exemptions from school vaccination requirements. The outcome could have implications for religious freedom, parental rights and public health nationwide.
The legal fight comes as the country faces its largest measles outbreak in a generation, with cases spreading in Amish communities and other parts of the United States.
Chautauqua County school at center of lawsuit
The town of Clymer, in Chautauqua County, is home to one of New York’s largest Amish populations.
It’s where Joseph Miller’s children attended Shady Lane School, an Amish-run school that was fined $20,000 by the state Health Department in 2022 for failing to comply with New York’s school vaccination requirements.
Miller and other plaintiffs challenged the state’s policy, saying they “possess fervent religious objections to injecting their children with vaccines.”
Their argument centers in part on the state’s allowance for medical exemptions while prohibiting religious exemptions.
“There is a medical exemption, right, that students, parents can opt out based on medical reasons and therefore, if you can opt out for medical reasons, you should be allowed to opt out for religious reasons,” said legal analyst Michael Macomber, who is a partner and CEO at Tully Rinckey PLLC.
Macomber said the plaintiffs’ argument is that the state’s vaccination requirements are not sufficiently neutral under the Constitution.
New York, meanwhile, has argued that the requirements are public health measures that apply to students regardless of their religious beliefs.
“New York’s taking the position, this is a health requirement. It has to do with physical health and safety. It’s neutral on its face. It applies to everyone. It has nothing to do with the free exercise of religion,” Macomber said.
