Becket urges appeals court to protect St. Louis teachers punished for their faith City ousted over 100 teachers seeking religious exemptions to COVID vaccine mandate

WASHINGTON – Becket filed a friend-of-the-court brief yesterday at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit supporting St. Louis teachers who were punished for following their faith and seeking religious accommodations to the City school district’s COVID vaccine mandate. 

In Brandon v. Board of Education of the City of St. Louis, the school district told employees they could request exemptions from the mandate for religious or medical reasons. In reality, it denied every religious exemption request it received while granting every medical exemption request. This blatant double standard resulted in devoted teachers who refused to violate their deeply held beliefs losing their jobs or being placed on unpaid leave, even as St. Louis schools grappled with a teacher shortage.

“Medical exemptions were rubber-stamped while sincere religious requests were thrown in the trash, forcing faithful teachers out of their classrooms for simply living their beliefs,” said Andrea Butler, counsel at Becket. “That discriminatory double standard flouted basic fairness and our nation’s promise of religious freedom. We’re confident the Eighth Circuit will soon make that clear.” 

The district’s double standard did not just cost faithful teachers their jobs. It also deprived students of trusted teachers, classroom instruction, and valuable educational opportunities. For example, afterone teacher was forced out, the district suspended her elementary theater program entirely. After another was placed on leave, his aviation program shut down because no qualified substitute could replace him. And after a third was removed from the classroom, students could no longer receive dual credit for her world history classes.

“Public health uncertainty is not a blank check for government to bulldoze religious freedom,” said Butler. “The Supreme Court made that crystal clear again and again during the pandemic. St. Louis Public Schools should be held fully accountable for its religious discrimination punishing dedicated teachers simply because they chose faith over a government mandate.”

A group of teachers sued, arguing that the district violated their rights by refusing to accommodate their faith while granting exemptions to other employees. A federal jury sided with the educators, awarding them $4 million for the suffering they endured. The school district appealed, and Becket’s brief urges the Eighth Circuit to uphold the teachers’ hard-fought victory. The brief explains that when the government creates a system of exemptions, it cannot favor secular requests while shutting religious believers out. It also argues that under the Supreme Court’s decision in Groff v. DeJoy, employers cannot force religious believers to choose between their faith and their job. Religious liberty must be respected even—and especially—in times of public health uncertainty.

A hearing in the case is expected later this year. 

For more information or to arrange an interview, contact Ryan Colby at [email protected] or 202-349-7219.