The Thomas More Society announced the University of Colorado Anshutz School of Medicine agreed to pay out more than $10.3 million in damages, tuition, and attorney’s fees. This is to go to 18 plaintiffs who were denied religious exemptions to taking required COVID shots.
Michael McHale is senior counsel for Thomas More Society. He explained that he was heavily involved in this case from the "beginning to the end."
"The University of Colorado Medical School was one of many employers in 2021 that mandated COVID-19 vaccination, and the problem is they developed a religious accommodation policy that flagrantly violated the First Amendment,” explains McHale. “Their policy sprung up, really, at the last minute and said that, in order to seek a religious accommodation, a person had to belong to a religion that opposes all vaccines."
He said that they denied every request for religious exemption with a "very terse e-mail from an anonymous committee called ‘the vaccine verified committee.'" They essentially told people that they do not have the correct religious beliefs.
“And that was the sort of final word for so many at this large medical school, including employees who had been there for decades and medical students who had poured out their lives and were on the cusp of graduating," says McHale.
He said that his team at Thomas More Society filed a lawsuit. The university then switched and said they would then prohibit students from requesting religious exemptions at all.
"And for employees, we're going to favor medical over religious exemptions. Everyone who sought a religious accommodation in practice was still denied," states McHale.
His team pressed on with their lawsuit, and they lost in the district court but appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals.
"By the grace of God, in May 2024, we won on appeal, and the court said that our clients were entitled to preliminary injunction. The problem was so much time had passed that, by May of 2024, a lot of them had moved on,” informs McHale. “We sued on behalf of 18 individuals ultimately from doctors to medical students to administrative staff, and the case became more about damages at that point, along with some good equitable relief to change the university's behavior."
McHale explained that the case was dismissed this fall. He said was “quite a journey” and a great win for religious liberty.
"To confirm that nobody should have to choose between their faith and their livelihood over an experimental vaccine, at least not without a fair shot at a religious accommodation, and that there are consequences to pay when a government violates the First Amendment," says McHale.
