This is the kind of hostility toward religious faith that ultimately doomed outcomes in Fulton v. City of Philadelphia and Masterpiece Cakeshop.
Way back in May 2024, I discussed Miller v. McDonald. Amish parents challenged New York’s vaccine mandate on Free Exercise Clause grounds. In December 2025, the Supreme Court issued a GVR—grant, vacate, and remand—in light of Mahmoud. Unsurprisingly, the New York courts believed Mahmoud changed nothing. The matter has now returned to the Supreme Court. A cert petition was filed on September 28.
The New York Times covered the case in an article titled, “Amish Families Pushed to Undo a Vaccine Law. Then Measles Arrived.” The undercurrent of the piece is the notion that Amish children deserve illness because their parents opted not to vaccinate them. The New York Health commissioner stated this point explicitly:
In a petition filed on Sept. 28, the Amish asked the U.S. Supreme Court to force New York to grant religious exemptions to immunization rules, as most states do. A previous ruling gave the Amish reason to think they might have a chance at prevailing.
But then a wave of measles cases began sweeping through Amish communities. Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a statewide health emergency this month after more than 100 people fell ill with measles.
“Perhaps Mother Nature, by delivering a measles outbreak in New York’s Amish community coincident with this case returning to the Supreme Court, is her not-so-subtle hint,” said Dr. Howard Zucker, who was state health commissioner when New York eliminated religious exemptions.
If only the Amish would choose the state over their faith, and take the hint, they wouldn’t have so many sick children! I am appalled by Zucker’s arrogance and hostility toward religion. He is implying that “Mother Nature” is signaling the Amish that their religious commitments are making children sick. In effect, nature is punishing the Amish for not bowing to Kathy Hochul.
Chief Justice Burger described this distinctive community in the Supreme Court’s unanimous Wisconsin v. Yoder decision:
The history of the Amish sect was given in some detail, beginning with the Swiss Anabaptists of the 16th century, who rejected institutionalized churches and sought to return to the early, simple, Christian life deemphasizing material success, rejecting the competitive spirit, and seeking to insulate themselves from the modern world. As a result of their common heritage, Old Order Amish communities today are characterized by a fundamental belief that salvation requires life in a church community separate and apart from the world and worldly influence. This concept of life aloof from the world and its values is central to their faith.
A related feature of Old Order Amish communities is their devotion to a life in harmony with nature and the soil, as exemplified by the simple life of the early Christian era that continued in America during much of our early national life. Amish beliefs require members of the community to make their living by farming or closely related activities. Broadly speaking, the Old Order Amish religion pervades and determines the entire mode of life of its adherents. Their conduct is regulated in great detail by the Ordnung, or rules, of the church community.
It is especially awful for Zucker to weaponize “Mother Nature” (capital letters) against a people whose life is devoted to “harmony with nature.”
This is not the first occasion on which New York has accused insular religious communities of spreading diseases. In October 2020, then-Governor Andrew Cuomo posted a photograph of religious Jews gathering in close quarters as evidence they were spreading the disease. He stated, “I’m going to say to the Orthodox community tomorrow if you don’t agree then we will have to close down your religious institutions.” The issue was that the photograph actually dated from Hassidic Rabbi Moshe Teitelbaum’s 2006 funeral, and it wasn’t even from New York City—it was taken in the Orange County village of Kiryas Joel. This charge is not new; Jews have historically been blamed for spreading plagues, among other pandemics.
The Times gestures at the religious reasons why the Amish oppose the vaccines:
But many Amish families regard vaccine mandates — and government intrusion in their schools — as a greater threat to the health of their community than measles. Their religion calls for adherents to live together in tightknit religious communities apart from the modern world and its influences.
“Our almighty God wants us to fully put our faith and trust in him, which is in conflict to put our trust in vaccines,” Ezra Wengerd, an Amish leader who represents the 26 families that send their children to the three schools, told a judge in 2022.
The Amish have practiced their faith for more than three centuries and have principled grounds to oppose vaccines. Indeed, the Amish present a far stronger basis to object to vaccines than many people who formed their beliefs during the pandemic. Shame on the New York government for singling out this tradition in such hostile terms.
Zucker and others do not appear to grasp what it means to trust a higher power. Instead, Zucker seems to believe Mother Nature is exacting vengeance on Amish children.
Yet, perhaps we should be grateful. This kind of remark should feature prominently in future briefing materials. Indeed, Zucker embodies the kind of hostility we have seen in past religious-liberty wins. In the run-up to Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, a government official argued that “things have changed since 100 yearsago,” and “it would be great if we followed the teachings of Pope Francis, the voice of the Catholic Church.” And in Masterpiece Cakeshop, a commissioner stated “Freedom of religion and religion has been used to justify all kinds of discrimination throughout history, whether it be slavery, whether it be the holocaust.” These statements constitute prima facie evidence of religious hostility.
So thank you, Mr. Zucker. You’ve increased the odds that your state will lose.
People sometimes ask me whether I would ever want to live in New York again. The answer is a firm no. This state routinely displays such hostility toward people of faith. Here in Texas, some people object to posting the Ten Commandments on classroom walls as a symbol of disdain. Yet no piece of paper matches the blunt contempt shown toward traditional religions by individuals like Zucker and Cuomo. As long as religious individuals get vaccinated and attend services on Zoom, they seem to be in good standing with the government. But the moment any person of faith dares to challenge elite viewpoints, Gaia appears to retaliate.
These people seem to be living in a Captain Planet episode. (I cringe at the Turner-esque propaganda I absorbed as a child.)
