Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/21a90_6j37.pdf
Page Number: 5

4 

DOES 1–3 v. MILLS 

GORSUCH, J., dissenting 

(2)  Protecting  individual  healthcare  workers  from 

contracting COVID–19; 

(3) Protecting the State’s healthcare infrastructure,
including the work force, by preventing COVID–caused
absences that could cripple a facility’s ability to provide 
care; and 

(4)  Reducing  the  likelihood  of  outbreaks  within 
healthcare  facilities  caused  by  an  infected  healthcare
worker  bringing  the  virus  to  work.    App.  to  Brief  for 
Respondents,  Decl.  of  Nirav  Shah,  p.  43,  ¶56  (Shah
Decl.). 

Now consider the first, second, and fourth of these.  No 
one  questions  that  protecting  patients  and  healthcare
workers  from  contracting  COVID–19  is  a  laudable  objec-
tive.  But Maine does not suggest a worker who is unvac-
cinated for medical reasons is less likely to spread or con-
tract  the  virus  than  someone  who  is  unvaccinated  for 
religious  reasons.  Nor  may  any  government  blithely  as-
sume those claiming a medical exemption will be more will-
ing to wear protective gear, submit to testing, or take other
precautions than someone seeking a religious exemption.  A 
State may not assume “the best” of individuals engaged in
their  secular  lives  while  assuming  “the  worst”  about  the 
habits of religious persons.  Roberts v. Neace, 958 F. 3d 409, 
414 (CA6 2020).  In fact, the applicants before us have al-
ready demonstrated a serious commitment to public health
during  this  pandemic  and  expressly  stated  that  they,  no
less than those seeking a medical exemption, will abide by
rules concerning protective gear, testing, or the like.  Com-
plaint ¶76.

That  leaves  Maine’s  third  asserted  interest:    protecting 
the State’s healthcare infrastructure.  According to Maine,
“[a]n  outbreak  among  healthcare  workers  requiring  them
to  quarantine,  or  to  be  absent  . . .  as  a  result  of  illness 
caused by COVID–19, could cripple the facility’s ability to