U.S. Supreme Court Vacates Appeals Ruling Allowing New York to Require Vaccinations for Amish Schoolchildren

The Supreme Court of the United States has vacated a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit that would allow the State of New York to require Amish schoolchildren to receive vaccinations, and has sent the case back to that appellate court. According to a news release from First Liberty Institute, dated December 8, 2025, the ruling concerns children who attend private Amish-only schools in rural communities. The release states that the vaccinations conflict with the families’ sincerely held religious beliefs, and that the children would need them in order to attend Amish community schools.

In vacating the Second Circuit’s decision, the Court instructed that court to reconsider the case in light of its earlier decision in *Mahmoud v. Taylor*. The release describes that decision as holding that the government violated the Free Exercise rights of parents whose elementary students were required to take part in activities contrary to their religious beliefs. First Liberty Institute represents the Amish schools involved in the case.

Kelly Shackelford, the organization’s president, chief executive and chief counsel, said: “The Amish community in New York wants to be left alone to live out their faith just like they have for 200 years.” He also asked, “Who is the authority over our children? Their parents or government bureaucrats?” He added that the case “will affect every American- their religious freedoms and the authority of every parent to raise their children according to their faith.”

The release gives the following background. From 1966 until 2019, New York granted religious exemptions from its school vaccination requirements. In June 2019, the state repealed the religious exemption for school vaccine mandates. In 2022, the state brought an enforcement action against the Amish appellants, which the release says imposed “catastrophic penalties.” The release states that, for religious reasons, the Amish have educated their children in private Amish schools for hundreds of years, without vaccinations. The Amish lost in the district court and then appealed.

The release frames the case as raising “the foundational First and Fourteenth Amendment question” of whether New York can compel Amish schoolchildren in remote communities to receive vaccinations that conflict with their sincerely held religious beliefs and way of life. The release is an advocacy statement from counsel for the appellants, and the Supreme Court’s action did not decide the merits of that question. The case now returns to the Second Circuit for reconsideration.

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