N.Y. Amish threaten relocation as mandatory vaccine dispute heads back to SCOTUS

Members of the Amish community sit to watch the Solar Eclipse on April 8, 2024 in Niagara Falls, New York.

A constitutional dispute over religious freedom and public health continues in New York, where members of the state’s roughly 25,000-person Amish community have indicated they may relocate if required to comply with mandatory school vaccination rules.

The conflict stems from a 2019 law signed by then-New York Democrat Governor Andrew Cuomo that eliminated non-medical and religious exemptions for school-required immunizations following a severe measles outbreak centered in Orthodox Jewish communities.

New York officials maintain that strictly enforced vaccination requirements are “necessary to protect public health and sustain high immunization rates.” However, Old Order Amish families argue that requiring their children to receive immunizations violates their sincerely held religious beliefs, their tradition of separation from modern society and their reliance on divine providence.

The dispute has created major financial pressure on the small, rural, one-room schools operated by the Amish. State health officials imposed civil penalties of up to $2,000 per violation against non-compliant institutions. 

 

Three plaintiff schools — Dygert Road, Pleasant View (also known as Twin Mountain or Twin Mountains), and Shady Lane — were assessed a combined total of approximately $118,000 in fines.

Attorneys from First Liberty Institute and Siri & Glimstad have warned that similar penalties across Amish schools could lead to severe financial hardship, with the potential for enforcement actions affecting property if fines remain unpaid. Faced with the choice of paying the penalties, altering practices that conflict with their faith, or leaving, community representatives and parents have said they are prepared to relocate to states that retain broader religious exemptions.

The legal challenge, Miller v. McDonald, centers on First and Fourteenth Amendment protections for free exercise of religion and parental rights. The Amish plaintiffs rely on the 1972 Supreme Court decision Wisconsin v. Yoder, which ruled that the state could not compel Amish children to attend school beyond the eighth grade because of their distinctive religious way of life.

 

Their attorneys argue that New York’s policy creates an unconstitutional disparity by permitting medical exemptions for children who might suffer physical harm from a vaccine while denying religious accommodations for those who believe immunization causes spiritual harm.

The case has followed a complex path through the federal courts.

In December last year, the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) vacated an earlier decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit that favored the state and remanded the matter for further consideration in light of Mahmoud v. Taylor, a 2025 SCOTUS decision strengthening parental rights in certain religious contexts.

 

On remand, a Second Circuit panel again ruled for New York on June 30, 2026, holding that the vaccine requirement is a neutral law of general applicability aimed at reducing the spread of contagious diseases and that Mahmoud did not alter the analysis.

Attorneys for the Amish are now reportedly preparing a new petition seeking a SCOTUS review.

It is worth noting that the appeal carries potential national relevance as courts continue to examine the intersection of public-health mandates and religious free-exercise claims. While SCOTUS has historically been cautious about invalidating state vaccine requirements, shifting approaches to parental authority and religious liberty at the federal level form part of the larger legal and political context.

 

As the parties prepare the next stage of the litigation, the outcome could clarify the boundary between state public-health authority and constitutional protections for religious exercise.