Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/21a145_gfbi.pdf
Page Number: 3

Cite as:  595 U. S. ____ (2021) 

3 

GORSUCH, J., dissenting 

B 
Until very recently, none of this posed a difficulty.  The 
pandemic  began  approximately  21  months  ago.  Vaccines 
became available to New York healthcare workers roughly 
12 months ago.  Through it all, the State allowed—and de-
pended  on—front-line  healthcare  workers  like  the  appli-
cants to serve their patients.  Things only began to change
four  months  ago  when  New  York,  for  the  first  time,  an-
nounced  that  it  was  contemplating  a  vaccine  mandate. 
Even then, it did not seem the State’s plans would pose a 
problem for the applicants or thousands of others like them. 
Governor Andrew Cuomo assured the public that any new 
mandate would contain “exceptions for those with religious
or medical reasons.”  Governor Cuomo Announces COVID– 
19 Vaccination Mandate for Healthcare Workers (Aug. 16,
2021),  https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-cuomo-
announces-covid-19-vaccination-mandate-healthcare-workers. 
On August 18, 2021, health commissioner Howard Zucker
issued the proposed mandate, indicating that it would take
effect on September 27.  Just as the Governor promised, it 
contained a religious exemption.  App. to Application Exh.
8, pp. 103–104.

The  trouble  here  began  only  when  Mr.  Cuomo  left  the 
Governor’s office and Kathy Hochul assumed it.  On August
23, one day before Governor Hochul took office, the State’s 
Public  Health  and  Health  Planning  Council—an  advisory 
committee  headed  by  Commissioner  Zucker—proposed  a 
revised  mandate,  this  time  with  no  religious  exemption.
The council issued the proposed regulation three days later. 
10 N. Y. Admin. Code §2.61 (2021).  The regulatory impact 
statement  accompanying  this  decision  did  not  discuss  the 
feasibility of a religious exemption or the reasons for remov-
ing it.

But  the  new  Governor  did.    In  response  to  a  reporter’s
question 12 days before the revised mandate was set to take 
effect  on  September  27,  Governor  Hochul  acknowledged