The U.S. Supreme Court turned away four public-school teachers who said New York City violated their constitutional rights by firing them or putting them on unpaid leave for refusing to get Covid-19 vaccinations.
The justices made no comment in rejecting the teachers’ appeal, which challenged the city’s vaccine mandate for its 148,000 employees. The same group of teachers failed last year to block the policy before it took effect.
The Supreme Court has permitted Covid vaccine mandates at the state and local level even as it has curbed federal authority to impose requirements. The justices blocked a Biden administration rule that would have required shots or regular tests for more than 80 million employees, while allowing a more targeted vaccine mandate for some health-care workers.
New York City in February fired more than 1,400 unvaccinated workers, most of them Department of Education employees. The policy offers medical and religious exemptions, but the suing teachers didn’t qualify for those.
The teachers contended the mandate unconstitutionally prevents them from practicing their profession.
In a separate case, a former Yankee Stadium employee is suing New York Mayor Eric Adams, seeking to block the city’s exemptions for professional athletes and other performers from its vaccine mandate for private employers. The worker says she was fired for refusing to get vaccinated.
The case is Maniscalco v. New York City Department of Education, 21-854.
(c) 2022, Bloomberg · Greg Stohr
Wicked evil corrupt judges.
Thank you Supreme court for saving my tax money by not having to be paid to listen to this idiotic case, as well as not having to pay these exceedingly dangerous anti vaxxer teachers from my tax money.