{"id":7494,"date":"2026-08-26T23:39:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T23:39:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=7494"},"modified":"2026-08-26T23:39:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T23:39:11","slug":"amish-threaten-mass-exodus-from-new-york-over-vaccine-fight-which-is-heading-to-the-supreme-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=7494","title":{"rendered":"Amish threaten mass exodus from New York over vaccine fight \u2014which is heading to the Supreme Court"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

New York\u2019s Amish community is issuing an ultimatum to state bureaucrats: leave us alone or we\u2019re packing up our buggies for greener pastures.<\/p>\n

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The threat has been sparked by a vaccine mandate fight that the 25,000 strong religious community is taking all the way to the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n

It takes place as state Health Department officials continue to slap thousands in fines on tiny, one-room parochial Amish schools which have refused to comply with a Cuomo-era vaccine decree.<\/p>\n

\u201cHave we gotten to a place where we aren\u2019t going to make room for the Amish anymore?\u201d Hiram Sasser, an attorney representing six plaintiffs in the case, Miller v. McDonald, asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you think of Americana\u2014apple pie, fireworks\u2014the Amish are on that list. They\u2019re part of the American fabric. They\u2019re a good litmus test of our religious liberty and our tolerance,\u201d Sasser claimed to The Post.<\/p>\n

In 2019, following a measles outbreak in an Orthodox Jewish community, then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo rescinded religious exemptions for school vaccine mandates\u2014making it the second state to ever do so, behind California.<\/p>\n

Post-COVID, two other states, Maine and Connecticut, removed religious exemptions while West Virginia never had them.<\/p>\n

New York state law requires kids to receive between to attend K through 12 schools, according to . \u00a0<\/p>\n

Upstate Amish parents\u2014who generally teach their children in small classes in one-room schoolhouses which receive no public money\u2014have been in court since 2024 fighting Cuomo\u2019s mandate.<\/p>\n

Two years earlier the state began issuing $2,000 fines for non-compliance. Three schools listed as plaintiffs in the lawsuit\u2014Shady Lane school in Clymer, NY; Pleasant View in Heuvelton, NY and Dygert Road School near Canajoharie\u2014together have racked up $118,000 in fines.<\/p>\n

Their attorneys tell The Post every Amish school in the state is in the same situation; the DOH refused to answer The Post\u2019s questions about how many other schools had been fined.<\/p>\n

New York has the nation\u2019s fifth largest Amish population, with an estimated 25,000 individuals. Their lawyers say if they are unsuccessful at the Supreme Court, they are leaving the state for good; possibly destined for Pennsylvania, which has the largest Amish population in the country at around 95,000.<\/p>\n

For one, the only way the community would be able to meet the fines is if the state confiscated their land to pay them according to Aaron Siri, another attorney representing the plaintiffs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWatch \u2018Little House on the Prairie.\u2019 It\u2019s the one-room schoolhouse and Laura Ingalls Wilder teaching the kids. It\u2019s a way of life that use to predominate across America, but the Amish are still holding on to it. We\u2019ve acknowledged that as a nation and given them their space this whole time. And now that\u2019s being tested,\u201d claimed Sasser.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court sent the case back to the NYC-based 2nd Circuit\u2014which had ruled against the Amish last year\u2014strongly insisting the majority Democrat-appointed tribunal take another look.<\/p>\n

However, the 2nd Circuit reissued its original decision and now the Amish will officially petition SCOTUS to hear their case again next month, their lawyers say.<\/p>\n

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Amish culture generally forbids both litigation and injectables. \u201cThe Amish really don\u2019t want to be in this position. They don\u2019t want to be engaging in this lawsuit in any way at all. But they\u2019ve been left with no choice,\u201d Siri told The Post.<\/p>\n

In a handwritten letter shared with The Post, plaintiff Ezra Wengerd of Canajoharie, 55, an Amish father of the very conservative Old Order sect explained his community\u2019s refusal to comply with DOH directives.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe, as a peace loving religious group, are sincerely sorry that we are causing the state a prob [sic]. We are indeed grateful to the state of NY for the many privileges freedoms and protections they have blessed us with, for many years,\u201d Wengerd wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur Almighty God wants us to fully put our faith and trust in Him. Which is in conflict to put our trust in vaccines. We are also commanded to not be conformed to this world,\u201d the letter continued.<\/p>\n

As luck would have it, when the Amish do end up in court, they have a good track record of victories.<\/p>\n

In Minnesota, Ohio and Pennsylvania Amish plaintiffs prevailed in state-level cases from the 1980s to 2020s involving photo IDs, buggy safety equipment and building codes\u2014each time granted reasonable workarounds when the modern hooey of photography, reflective tape and septic tanks threatened their way of life.<\/p>\n

But when the Amish return to SCOTUS they won\u2019t have a slam dunk case, Wayne State University law professor Christopher Lund Told The Post.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe claim in these cases is: you are only entitled to a religious exemption if the law isn\u2019t neutral or generally applicable,\u201d said Lund. \u201cThe argument the plaintiffs are making here is,\u00a0if you\u2019re going to exempt people with medical needs, you also need to exempt people with religious needs.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 2nd Circuit has been on a streak slapping down people who\u2019ve challenged vaccine mandates, ruling against at least five other recent plaintiffs fired from their jobs for refusing COVID-19 jabs on religious grounds.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a topic SCOTUS would rather not touch, either.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the [Supreme] court\u2019s always been hesitant about vaccination cases. And when we had church closure cases during COVID\u00a0the court showed a lot of deference to medical authorities,\u201d said Lund.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

\u201cBut the state isn\u2019t just thinking about the Amish, it\u2019s thinking about everyone together.\u00a0I think the Amish are probably a very sympathetic set of plaintiffs, but the state is thinking more widely,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

An NY DOH spokeswoman said in a statement to The Post, its responsibility \u201cis to protect public health, keep New Yorkers and their families safe and enforce the law fairly and equitably,\u201d adding the DOH is \u201ccommitted to\u00a0eliminating\u00a0serious illness and unnecessary deaths caused by vaccine preventable diseases\u201d and school immunization requirements are \u201cbased in science.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, the community does have vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy\u2019s Department of Health and Human Services on their side.<\/p>\n

\u201cPresident Trump\u2019s recent Executive Order reaffirmed the Administration\u2019s commitment to parental choice and religious freedom when it comes to childhood vaccination \u2026 Under Secretary Kennedy\u2019s leadership, HHS will continue working to protect parents\u2019 rights to make informed health care decisions for their children in accordance with their deeply held beliefs,\u201d a spokesperson told The Post.<\/p>\n

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Facing $118,000 in fines over their schools’ non-compliance with state laws, New York\u2019s 25,000 Amish are threatening to leave the state over a vaccine mandate fight which is now heading to the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7493,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-metro"],"yoast_head":"\nAmish threaten mass exodus from New York over vaccine fight \u2014which is heading to the Supreme Court - Metro Transit Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=7494\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Amish threaten mass exodus from New York over vaccine fight \u2014which is heading to the Supreme Court - 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