John Does 1–3, et al. v. Janet T. Mills, Governor of Maine, et al.
"[E]ven in a pandemic, the Constitution cannot be put away and forgotten." Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn v. Cuomo, 141 S. Ct. 63, 68 (2020). More to the point, "[e]ven in times of crisis—perhaps especially in times of crises—we have a duty to hold governments to the Constitution." South Bay United Pentecostal Church v. Newsom, 141 S. Ct. 716, 718 (2021) (Gorsuch, J.). Thus, as Justice Gorsuch wrote about this dispute,
This case presents an important constitutional question, a serious error, and an irreparable injury. Where many other States have adopted religious exemptions, Maine has charted a different course. There, healthcare workers who have served on the front line of a pandemic for the last 18 months are now being fired and their practices shuttered. All for adhering to their constitutionally protected religious beliefs. Their plight is worthy of our attention.
(App. 009.)
The questions presented for review are:
1. Whether a state governor's order mandating that private healthcare employers, on penalty of revocation of their business licenses, terminate their healthcare workers who are not fully vaccinated for COVID-19, and deny any worker's request for religious accommodation from the mandate while allowing medical exemptions from the mandate, violates the employers' and employees' rights under the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment.
2. Whether, under the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution, a state governor's order mandating that private healthcare employers, on penalty of revocation of their business licenses, terminate their healthcare workers who are not fully vaccinated for COVID-19 with no opportunity for any worker to seek a religious accommodation from the mandate, is preempted by the religious accommodation provisions of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
3. Whether Article III courts have incidental equitable powers to grant preliminary injunctive relief to employees in aid of their Title VII remedies where the harm suffered by the employees in the absence of injunctive relief has a chilling effect on their religious free exercise and protection from religious discrimination.
Whether a state governor's order mandating that private healthcare employers, on penalty of revocation of their business licenses, terminate their healthcare workers who are not fully vaccinated for COVID-19, and deny any worker's request for religious accommodation from the mandate while allowing medical exemptions from the mandate, violates the employers' and employees' rights under the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment