Since October 7, 2023, our strongest ally in the Middle East, Israel, has withstood various terrorist attacks from Iran and its proxies, including Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, and others. Instead of standing by Jerusalem, the Biden-Harris...
News
Latest News
Rubio: “The Court is Right: Algorithms Should Not Enjoy Section 230 Protections”
TikTok was recently sued after a 10-year-old girl died from taking part in a viral challenge that dared users on the app to choke themselves until they passed out. Courts have historically protected social media companies over user-generated content due to...
Rubio, Moolenaar Demand Communist China-linked Battery Company Be Blacklisted
Contemporary Amperex Technology Limited (CATL) is an electric vehicle battery company with deep ties to the Chinese Communist Party and its armed wing, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Reliance on, and use of, CATL batteries threatens U.S. national security as it...
Rubio: Communist China Making a Mockery of Biden-Harris Administration
Despite the serious threats the Chinese Communist Party poses to the United States and our allies, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan is in the midst of a three day visit with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in another embarrassing attempt to “lower tensions”...
Rubio Calls on John Deere to Prioritize American Workers
John Deere, the world’s largest tractor manufacturer, is a staple of American business and a crucial supplier for the hard working Americans who grow our food. Recently, after receiving public backlash, John Deere ended several ridiculous Diversity, Equity, and...
Rubio Y Colegas: Esto No Se Trata de Ideología Política, Se Trata de Defender la Voluntad del Pueblo Venezolano
Hace casi un mes, el pueblo venezolano votó por Edmundo González Urrutia como su presidente electo. Ayer, el Tribunal Supremo de Justicia del narco-régimen de Maduro optó por legitimar el fraude electoral de la dictadura. Los senadores estadounidenses Marco Rubio...
Rubio Leads Colleagues in Filing Amicus Brief in Support of Workers Denied Religious Exemptions from COVID Vaccine Mandates
Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL), John Barrasso (R-WY), Mike Braun (R-IN), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Ted Cruz (R-TX), John Hoeven (R-ND), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), James Lankford (R-OK), Mike Lee (R-UT), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), and Rick Scott (R-FL) filed an amicus brief in support of the petition for certiorari in Dr. A. v. Hochul filed by The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and the Thomas More Society. Dr. A. v. Hochul is a First Amendment case over New York’s failure to permit religious exemptions to its COVID-19 vaccine mandate for state and private healthcare employees. Healthcare employees with religious objections to COVID-19 vaccines sued to prevent loss of employment and unemployment benefits, noting comments by the Governor of New York that those with religious objections to the vaccine “aren’t listening to God and what God wants.”
“Public officials have a duty to safeguard religious liberty,” the senators wrote. “Allowing New York’s mandate to remain as-is would serve as a dangerous precedent that may invite other authorities, motivated by their zeal to implement the latest public health guidance—or something else in the future—to disregard the fundamental rights of their citizens.”
“This Court should grant certiorari and reverse the decision below,” the senators continued. “New York’s mandate cannot stand. The mandate represents a calculated effort to prevent the religious accommodation process that the Constitution and Congress have long required.”
Background:
After the Second Circuit reversed a district court’s preliminary injunction in favor of the employees, on December 13, 2021, the Supreme Court denied injunctive relief to these employees by a vote of 6-3. Dissenting from the denial, Justice Gorsuch, joined by Justice Alito, wrote: “Today, we do not just fail the applicants. We fail ourselves. It is among our Nation’s proudest boasts that, ‘[i]f there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in [matters of] religion.’”
On February 14, 2022, the employees, represented by counsel from The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and the Thomas More Society, filed a petition for certiorari asking the Supreme Court to provide full review of the case.
In order to ensure that the Supreme Court’s denial for emergency relief is not its last word on this critical issue for religious liberty, Rubio’s brief argues the following:
-
Congress has robustly and repeatedly sought to defend religious liberty under the authority of the First Amendment.
-
New York’s vaccine mandate reflects an intentional effort to undermine Congress’s protection of religious observance and practice in the workplace.
-
New York has established a roadmap for undermining religious liberty in the workplace. If unchecked, it would set a dangerous precedent for future state and local officials who might be tempted to circumvent Congressional protections of faith.