An appeals court has given nine Maine healthcare workers who challenged the state's COVID-19 vaccination mandate based on their religious objections until July 11 to file an amended complaint with their names, the Portland Press Herald reported.
The workers have remained anonymous, but on July 7 the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston gave the workers until July 8 to reveal their identities via an amended complaint, according to the newspaper. The workers subsequently received an extension until July 11.
Attorneys for Liberty Counsel, a conservative, religious law firm representing the healthcare workers, said in a court filing July 8 that the extension is needed to allow attorneys to discuss with each worker whether they want to continue with the lawsuit and reveal their identities, according to the Portland Press Herald, one of the media intervenors in the case.
The plaintiffs told attorneys for media intervenors, including the newspaper, that workers will not file other appeals in the lawsuit.
Maine's vaccination mandate for healthcare workers, which took effect in October, does not allow for religious objections but does allow for medical exemptions. The healthcare workers filed their lawsuit in August to contest the mandate's lack of religious exemptions.
The Supreme Court has previously rejected a challenge to Maine's vaccination mandate for healthcare workers. The nation's highest court also on June 30 decided it would not hear a challenge to New York's COVID-19 vaccination mandate for healthcare workers that, like Maine's, excludes religious exemptions.