Supreme Court Denies 5-Year-Old's New York School Vaccine Exemption Bid
Updated
Updated · The Washington Post · Sep 8
Supreme Court Denies 5-Year-Old's New York School Vaccine Exemption Bid
2 articles · Updated · The Washington Post · Sep 8
Summary
A one-line Supreme Court order let New York enforce its school vaccine mandate against a mother seeking to enroll her 5-year-old son in kindergarten without required shots.
Alito and Gorsuch said they would have granted the request, but the court otherwise sided with state and local officials who argued a religious exemption would weaken disease-prevention efforts.
New York repealed its religious exemption in 2019 after New York City’s largest measles outbreak in 30 years; only medical exemptions remain.
The denial fits the court’s recent pattern of favoring religious-liberty claims in some areas while refusing vaccine-related exemptions, including a similar California request in 2025.
The issue may return in the term starting in October, with an appeal expected from Amish parents after the 2nd Circuit rejected their challenge this summer.