Brandon v. Board of Education of the City of St. Louis

Faithful educators singled out and punished for their beliefs

In August 2021, St. Louis Public Schools imposed a COVID vaccine mandate on all administrators, teachers, and staff. The policy allowed employees to request an exemption if taking the vaccine would conflict with their sincerely held religious beliefs, observances, or practices. The policy also allowed employees to seek exemptions for medical or disability reasons. Those who failed to comply would be placed on unpaid leave or fired.

Despite purporting to offer employees a path to religious accommodation, the district denied all 198 religious exemption requests it received, claiming accommodation would be too difficult. It did so without considering vaccination rates at each school, whether teachers taught students old enough to be vaccinated, or whether qualified teachers were available to take over classes. As a result, over 100 teachers and staff with religious objections were placed on unpaid leave or terminated. Meanwhile, the district granted all 48 medical exemption requests it received and provided accommodations identical to those that employees with religious objections to the vaccine had requested, allowing employees with medical exemptions to keep working.

St. Louis’s blatant double standard harmed teachers and students 

The district’s double standard took a toll on both teachers and students. Several teachers had to take extra jobs to make ends meet, while other teachers and their families faced serious financial hardship, uncertainty, and stress after being placed on leave. 

For some teachers, the district brought in substitutes who were not trained in their subject areas. Other classes and programs were canceled entirely. For example, when one teacher was placed on leave, the district suspended her elementary theater program altogether. When another was placed on leave, the district canceled his aviation program. And when a third was placed on leave, students could no longer receive dual credit for her world history classes. Dedicated educators were sidelined, and students paid the price with lost opportunities and disrupted learning. 

Becket to Eighth Circuit: The Constitution doesn’t disappear in a pandemic 

By January 2022, the school district reversed course—granting employees’ religious accommodations and requesting they return to work. But that did not undo the damage to teachers who had lost months of pay, families who were forced into financial hardship, and students whose educational opportunities had vanished. 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 then appealed to the Eighth Circuit.  

On May 27, 2026, Becket filed a friend-of-the-court brief supporting the teachers and staff, arguing that constitutional protections for religious freedom do not disappear in a pandemic.The brief explains that when the government creates a system of exemptions, it cannot favor secular requests while shutting religious believers out, and even public health concerns do not give governments the power to trample religious exercise. And under the Supreme Court’s recent ruling 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.

Importance to Religious Liberty:

• Individual Freedom: Religious exercise encompasses more than just thought or worship—it involves visibly practicing faith, at home and at work. All Americans must be free to live according to their consciences without fear of losing their jobs.