Claiming the mandatory shot violated their religious rights, the fired workers sued Gov. Janet Mills and several health care networks in 2021. The vaccine requirement went into effect in October of 2021.
Last week, U.S. District Judge Jon Levy said the mandate was "rationally based" and "no further analysis is required,” and the lawsuit was tossed.
Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, tells AFN the law firm will “definitely” file an appeal to the ruling, which he called flawed.
“They gave medical exemptions but not religious exemptions but then justifies it,” he says. “The fact is, if you give a medical exemption, you have to give a religious exemption.”
In July, Liberty Counsel settled a case in Illinois that resulted in a $10.3 million settlement for health care workers at NorthShore University HealthSystem.
Staver insists that lawsuit and settlement "persuades the precedential information and a basis for not only Maine but other cases Liberty Counsel is involved in across the country."
The basis for that legal view, Staver adds, is Liberty Counsel is arguing in court that its clients are victims of discrimination via Title VII of the U.S. Civil Rights Act.
