Alabama Leads 21 States in Supreme Court Brief to Protect Amish Schools’ Religious Rights Against Vaccine Mandates

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall is leading a coalition of 21 states in filing an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court, defending the religious liberty of Amish schools in rural New York facing penalties under the New York’s ban on religious vaccine exemptions.

New York repealed its longstanding religious exemption to school vaccine mandates in 2019, while maintaining medical exemptions. The law targets Amish-only private schools whose students do not receive vaccinations due to the parents’ deeply held beliefs.

“New York has so little regard for religion that it will seek out, harass, and threaten Amish communities that want only to live out their faith amongst themselves,” said Attorney General Marshall. “Parents should not be forced to choose between their children’s schooling and their fundamental rights. Unfortunately, we’re seeing a growing trend of hostility toward religious liberty.”

Marshall added that legislators in New York had disparaged such religious beliefs as “fake” and “garbage,” shocking him and underscoring the need to act before this hostility finds its way into federal courts.

The brief argues that New York’s move violates the First Amendment and parental rights protected by the Supreme Court precedent, such as Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972), which recognized Amish parents’ right to direct their children’s religious education.

The brief criticizes lower courts’ treatment of New York’s law as “neutral and generally applicable,” noting that it allows non-vaccination for medical reasons but not for religious ones. It argues the law discriminates against religious belief and demands strict scrutiny.

Twenty-one states have joined Alabama in support: Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia.

This case builds on earlier efforts. In May 2024, Alabama led a 20-state amicus brief supporting the Amish schools before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

In 2019, following a severe measles outbreak that hit unvaccinated communities, New York repealed its religious exemption while retaining medical exemption from school immunization laws.

By 2022, three Amish schools were fined a total of $118,000 for not complying with vaccine mandates.

In March 2025, the Second Circuit upheld the repeal. It dismissed the Amish claim, ruling the law was neutral and applied uniformly.

Advocates now argue the case should reach the Supreme Court, pointing to how New York’s law treats medical and religious objections unequally.

Public health proponents note that courts have long upheld immunization mandates—citing historic rulings like Jacobson v. Massachusetts (1905) and Prince v. Massachusetts (1944), which affirm a State’s power to set vaccine rules even over individual freedom claims.

However, critics point out that such mandates violate basic principles of bodily autonomy and religious liberty. In the last session of the Alabama legislature, a number of related bills—HB520, known as the Conscientious Right to Refuse Act, that would prevent discrimination against individuals who refuse vaccines, medications, or medical procedures due to religious or conscientious objections, just to name one—were introduced, only to die in the House Health Committee under Committee Chairman Paul Lee.

Another bill, SB85, would have simplified the process of obtaining religious exemptions and eliminated any fees required for these exemptions. It passed the Senate and was favorably reported out of the House Health Committee, only to die because it never received a vote on the House floor before the session ended.

It is ironic that Alabama is leading an effort to protect and defend the rights and freedoms of the Amish in New York, while refusing to do the same for our own citizens. Nonetheless, health and religious freedom advocates can applaud the efforts of AG Marshall—while hoping that the Legislature follows his example in the 2026 session.