In Matter of Ferrelli v State of New York, (App. Div., April 16, 2024), a New York state appellate court upheld the denial of religious exemptions from the Covid vaccine mandate imposed for employment in the New York court system, The court held that the mandate was a neutral law of general applicability and thus was subject only to rational basis review. The court went on:
Marie Zweig, submitted her initial religious exemption application asserting that because of her Christian belief in the sanctity of life, she could not "in good conscience receive or benefit from the use of vaccines that are either tested on or produced using human cell lines derived from voluntarily aborted fetuses." On the supplemental form, Zweig acknowledged that she took over-the-counter medicines and would continue to do so, stating that she had "no knowledge that they were originally developed with the use of cell lines from aborted fetuses and [she] [has] determined that [she] can take them in good conscience" because "they were developed and approved long before they were tested on fetal cell lines." Respondents denied Zweig a religious exemption on the grounds that she failed to set forth a sincerely held religious belief....
... While reasonable people may disagree, upon review of Ms. Zweig's application, this Court cannot conclude that respondents' determination to deny her a religious exemption was so irrational as to be arbitrary and capricious....
