These brave Mainers stood their ground, through termination, coercion from their peers, their employers, and at times even their communities.
When Maine media publications teamed up to unblind their names, in an attempt to bully and publicly shame them, still they stood for what was right.
On May 25, 2023, the First Circuit Appeals Court ruled 3-0 in favor of the terminated healthcare workers, stating that they did have basis for a claim that the State violated their First Amendment rights. They ruled that the district court erred in dismissing the First Amendment and Equal Protection claims, in the case brought by Liberty Counsel.
The court stated that the mandate may meet the standard of strict scrutiny “based on the complaint’s allegations that the Mandate allows some number of unvaccinated individuals to continue working in healthcare facilities based on medical exemptions while refusing to allow individuals to continue working while unvaccinated for religious reasons.”
The case will now return to the lower court for discovery. So, they haven’t won yet, but now they will get their chance to argue their case in Court!
Read the Liberty Council’s post about the case.
