Republicans Ask DOJ to Investigate Vaccine Mandate Laws in Four States
'Students deserve access to education without coercion or infringement on their religious beliefs,' say lawmakers
Thirteen Republican lawmakers are urging the Justice Department to investigate four states that require children to be vaccinated for school without allowing religious exemptions, arguing the policies violate the Constitution.
In a February 6th letter sent to Attorney General Pam Bondi and Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, the lawmakers asked the DOJ to examine vaccine mandate laws in New York, California, Maine, and Connecticut. Those states bar parents from claiming religious objections, forcing families to choose between vaccinating their children or keeping them out of school.
New York has gone further than the others, the lawmakers said. The state has published a blacklist of 18 pediatricians under its “School Vaccination Fraud Awareness” campaign and instructed schools not to accept vaccine exemptions from them. According to the letter, none of the doctors has been charged with a crime.
“These physicians have not falsified records,” the lawmakers stated. “Instead, they have issued exemptions for vulnerable children, including those who are immunocompromised or suffer from preexisting medical conditions. Nevertheless, they are being treated as though they engaged in criminal wrongdoing.”
The legislators reminded the DOJ of its decision last year to drop charges against Dr. Kirk Moore, a Utah plastic surgeon who protected his patients from the experimental COVID-19 shots by giving patients saline injections instead of mRNA injections with their consent and issuing nearly 1,900 vaccination cards. Dr. Moore had faced up to 35 years in prison before the case was dismissed days before trial in July 2025.
The lawmakers argue that recent Supreme Court actions now put state vaccine mandates under renewed constitutional scrutiny.
They highlighted Miller v. McDonald, a case brought by Amish families after New York repealed its religious exemption to school vaccine requirements in 2019, following a measles outbreak. Amish schools declined to enforce the mandate, citing longstanding religious beliefs. The state fined the schools, and families sued.
Lower courts sided with New York, ruling that the mandate did not burden religious practice and that exemptions could weaken public health protections. But in December 2025, the Supreme Court sent the case back to the lower courts, ordering them to reconsider it in light of a separate ruling involving parental rights.
That case, Mahmoud v. Taylor, involved Muslim and Catholic parents who challenged a Maryland school district for exposing children to gender ideology without parental notice or opt-out options. After losing in lower courts, the parents prevailed at the Supreme Court, which ruled that the district violated both the First Amendment and parents’ Fourteenth Amendment rights.
America’s Frontline Doctors filed amici curiae briefs in both Mahmoud and Miller, urging the Court to reaffirm parents’ authority over their children’s medical and moral upbringing.
The lawmakers say a DOJ investigation could affect two vaccine-mandate lawsuits currently pending in New York—Children’s Health Defense v. McDonald and Doe v. Oceanside Union Free School District—and could influence legislative efforts in other states. Bills to eliminate religious exemptions have recently been introduced in Massachusetts and Hawai‘i.
“While we fully respect the principles of federalism and the state authority, such powers cannot come at the expense of the First Amendment that is guaranteed to every American,” the lawmakers wrote. “Our students deserve access to education without coercion or infringement on their religious beliefs.”
The letter was signed by Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Byron Donalds (R-FL), Paul Gosar (R-AZ), W. Gregory Steube (R-FL), Keith Self (R-TX), Beth Van Duyne (R-TX), Glenn Grothman (R-WI), Warren Davidson (R-OH), Harriet Hageman (R-WY), Ben Cline (R-VA), Troy Downing (R-MT), Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), and Michael Cloud (R-TX).