A group of Amish parents in New York want the the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in, again, on the state's lack of religious exemptions for vaccination rules for schools, including private schools.
In a Sept. 29 petition, the parents asked the high court to reverse a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit that permits the State of New York to compel vaccinations for Amish schoolchildren, who attend private Amish-only schools. The petition states that New York's rules are a violation of Amish families' religious beliefs in order to attend Amish community schools.
The court had not yet signaled if it would accept the petition to rehear Miller vs. McDonald.
New York rescinded religious exemptions for school vaccination mandates
in 2019 after a measles outbreak in Rockland County and Brooklyn sickened hundreds. Children in public and private schools in the state must comply with vaccine requirements and can only get exemptions for health-related reasons.
Childhood vaccines a hot-button issue in US, NY
The issue of childhood vaccines has become even more of a hut-button issue after the COVID pandemic.
According to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. kindergarten vaccination coverage fell 0.1% during the 2025-2026 school year, continuing a downward trend that has seen declines every year except one since the onset of COVID in 2020.
In August, the CDC reported that the vaccination rate among kindergarten-age children was 92.4% for the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine (MMR) and the polio vaccine.
New York data shows a higher compliance by age 5. But the state still sees pockets of low vaccination rates among younger children. For example, certain areas of Yates County, which has a large Amish population, had MMR vaccination rates for 2-year-olds around 50%. ZIP codes in Rockland County, including the largely Hasidic Jewish ZIP code of Monsey, had MMR vaccine rates slightly below that for 2-year-olds.
2nd attempt in NY to get court Supreme Court intervention
The Supreme Court earlier this month rejected an Eastchester mother's emergency appeal that sought permission for her kindergartner to attend the Eastchester Unified School District while the child lacked certain mandatory vaccinations.
The mother said vaccinations were against her faith, identified as Catholic, though the child had some vaccinations. She said the emergency appeal would allow her to stay in Westchester County, rather than move to Florida.
The Sept. 8 rejection of the emergency appeal included two dissents; Justices Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch said they would have granted her request.
Amish community 'wants to be left alone'
The Sept. 29 filing appeal came from Amish parents who had asked the Supreme Court in 2025 for relief from New York's vaccine requirements. The court then sent the case back to the Second Circuit with instructions to reconsider.
The lower court rejected the parents' appeal again.
The parents base their argument on the 2025 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Mahmoud v. Taylor, focused on First Amendment rights regarding the free exercise of religion. Specifically, the court ruled a Maryland school district violated the First Amendment by denying parent opt-outs from elementary lessons using LGBTQ+-inclusive books
The families maintain in the Sept. 29 challenge that receiving vaccinations to attend Amish community schools is in violation of their sincerely held religious beliefs.
The Amish parents are represented by Siri & Glimstad; Chris Wiest, Attorney at Law, PLLC; and Lehotsky Cohn LLP, along with First Liberty Institute.
“The Amish community in New York wants to be left alone to live out their faith just like they have for 200 years,” said Hiram Sasser, executive general counsel for First Liberty.
Nancy Cutler writes about People & Policy for lohud.com and the USA Today Network New York. Reach her at ncutler@lohud.com; follow her on Twitter, Threads and Instagram at @nancyrockland.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Amish ask Supreme Court to allow school vaccine religious exemptions
