{"id":658607,"date":"2026-08-27T12:14:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T12:14:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=658607"},"modified":"2026-08-27T12:14:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T12:14:16","slug":"amish-threaten-mass-exodus-from-new-york-as-vaccine-battle-heads-to-supreme-court-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=658607","title":{"rendered":"Amish threaten MASS EXODUS from New York as vaccine battle heads to Supreme Court"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Members of New York\u2019s 25,000-strong Amish community have threatened to leave the state over a school vaccine mandate.<\/p>\n

The battle started after a measles outbreak that overtook New York\u2019s Orthodox Jewish community in 2019, prompting then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo to eliminate religious exemptions to the state\u2019s school immunization requirements.<\/p>\n

Small, privately funded Amish schools subsequently refused to enforce the mandate on account of their religious beliefs, to which the state responded by issuing hefty $2,000 noncompliance fines.<\/p>\n

The schools eventually sued.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\ud83d\udea8\" Leave the Amish alone. \"\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\"<\/p>\n

New York\u2019s Amish community is fighting school vaccine mandates on religious grounds. Religious liberty shouldn\u2019t depend on government convenience.<\/p>\n

Let families live their faith in peace. \"\ud83d\ude4f\" Freedom of religion means freedom for ALL. pic.twitter.com\/8HfAtAdAhT<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 John _f_ Kennedy JR (@John_fk_jr7) August 27, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cThree schools listed as plaintiffs in the lawsuit\u2014Shady Lane school in Clymer, NY; Pleasant View in Heuvelton, NY and Dygert Road School near Canajoharie\u2014together have racked up $118,000 in fines,\u201d according to the New York Post<\/a>.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re being represented by attorney Hiram Sasser.<\/p>\n

\u201cHave we gotten to a place where we aren\u2019t going to make room for the Amish anymore?\u201d Sasser rhetorically asked the Post. \u201cWhen you think of Americana\u2014apple pie, fireworks\u2014the Amish are on that list. They\u2019re part of the American fabric. They\u2019re a good litmus test of our religious liberty and our tolerance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWatch \u2018Little House on the Prairie.\u2019 It\u2019s the one-room schoolhouse and Laura Ingalls Wilder teaching the kids. It\u2019s a way of life that used to predominate across America, but the Amish are still holding on to it. We\u2019ve acknowledged that as a nation and given them their space this whole time. And now that\u2019s being tested,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Thus far, the case, Miller v. McDonald<\/em>, has not proceeded to the Amish\u2019s liking.<\/p>\n

First, the Second Circuit ruled against them, after which the Supreme Court sent the case back and told the appeals court to look again. The Second Circuit then restated its original decision. The Amish intend to make a formal request next month for the Supreme Court to take the case.<\/p>\n

\n

A federal appeals court has reaffirmed New York\u2019s strict school-vaccination requirements, dealing a setback to Amish families seeking religious exemptions. In Miller v. McDonald, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that the state\u2019s elimination of religious\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/Vf6EJV29pD<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Dr. Lynn Fynn-derella (ret) \"\ud83d\udc2d\" (@Fynnderella1) July 24, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Although the Amish generally avoid getting involved in litigation, their attorneys said they felt they had no other option. The plaintiffs themselves felt so bad about things that they even wrote an apology letter.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe, as a peace loving religious group, are sincerely sorry that we are causing the state a prob,\u201d plaintiff Ezra Wengerd wrote in a handwritten letter shared with the Post. \u201cWe are indeed grateful to the state of NY for the many privileges freedoms and protections they have blessed us with, for many years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur Almighty God wants us to fully put our faith and trust in Him. Which is in conflict to put our trust in vaccines. We are also commanded to not be conformed to this world,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The plaintiffs\u2019 lawyers added that the Amish can\u2019t pay the accumulating fines without losing land, which is why they intend to permanently leave the state if the Supreme Court doesn\u2019t come to their rescue.<\/p>\n

The good news is that the Amish have a strong legal record.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Minnesota, Ohio and Pennsylvania, Amish plaintiffs prevailed in state-level cases from the 1980s to 2020s involving photo IDs, buggy safety equipment and building codes,\u201d according to the Post.<\/p>\n

The bad news is that they don\u2019t have a slam dunk case this time around, according to\u00a0Wayne State University law professor Christopher Lund.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe claim in these cases is: you are only entitled to a religious exemption if the law isn\u2019t neutral or generally applicable,\u201d he told the Post. \u201cThe argument the plaintiffs are making here is, if you\u2019re going to exempt people with medical needs, you also need to exempt people with religious needs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Furthermore, the Second Circuit has a lengthy record of \u201cslapping down people who\u2019ve challenged vaccine mandates,\u201d according to the Post.<\/p>\n

According to Lund, it also doesn\u2019t help that vaccine mandates are a topic that the high court would rather avoid.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the [Supreme] court\u2019s always been hesitant about vaccination cases,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd when we had church closure cases during COVID the court showed a lot of deference to medical authorities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the state isn\u2019t just thinking about the Amish, it\u2019s thinking about everyone together. I think the Amish are probably a very sympathetic set of plaintiffs, but the state is thinking more widely,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Members of New York\u2019s 25,000-strong Amish community have threatened to leave the state over a school vaccine mandate. The battle started after a measles outbreak that overtook New York\u2019s Orthodox Jewish community in 2019, prompting then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo to eliminate religious exemptions to the state\u2019s school immunization requirements. Small, privately funded Amish schools subsequently refused… Continue reading Amish threaten MASS EXODUS from New York as vaccine battle heads to Supreme Court<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":658593,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[20,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-658607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economic-empowerment","category-national-security","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=658607"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658607\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/658593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=658607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=658607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=658607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}