On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court denied to review Alicia Lowe, et al., v. Janet Mills, et al, in order to resolve the Title VII conflict on behalf of healthcare workers in Maine who were terminated because their religious exemptions from Governor Janet Mills’ unconstitutional, illegal, and unlawful COVID-19 shot mandate were denied. The First Circuit’s decision on Title VII has created a conflict among the circuit courts of appeal that the Supreme Court must resolve.
However, the case continues with U.S. District Judge Jon Levy who has ruled that the case may proceed for discovery despite Governor Mills’ attempt to stay the litigation while trying to moot the case.
The First Circuit Court of Appeals previously reversed the district court’s dismissal involving the seven Maine health care workers based on First Amendment and Equal Protection claims which sent the case back to the lower court for discovery.
Liberty Counsel represents the seven healthcare workers against five of the state’s largest hospital systems which include: MaineHealth, Genesis Healthcare of Maine, MaineGeneral Health, and Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center (hereinafter “Providers”). Despite the violation to the First Amendment, that state mandate coerced healthcare employees into a tyrannical choice of accepting a COVID-19 shot or being terminated. Governor Mills ordered employers to deny all religious exemptions and ignore the federal employment law known as Title VII that affords employees the right to request reasonable accommodation for their sincere religious beliefs. Governor Mills also threatened to revoke the licenses of all healthcare employers who failed to mandate the shot to their employees.
Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “Maine is required to abide by federal law and the First Amendment to reasonably accommodate employees who have sincerely held religious objections to the COVID shots. Governor Mills cannot create her own law that ignores the Free Exercise Clause. She must abide by federal law.”
