Defending Parents, Protecting Religious Freedom, Preserving Informed Consent

Washington, DC - September 4, 2025

On September 3, 2025, Dr. Simone Gold and the AFLDS legal team filed an amici curiae brief with the Supreme Court of the United States in support of the Petitioners in Miller v. McDonald (25-133).

The Petitioners in this case are three Amish individuals and three Amish schools that belong to small Old Order Amish communities in rural New York. They are suing state officials (Respondents) for enforcing the state’s ban on religious exemptions to its school vaccine requirement, thereby violating the Petitioners’ constitutional rights and faith-based freedoms. AFLDS is urging the High Court to grant the Petitioners’ writ of certiorari and reverse the lower courts’ reckless rulings.

This case began when New York lawmakers categorically eliminated religious exemptions to its school vaccine requirement. The Respondents moved to penalize the Petitioners who refused vaccination on religious grounds and sought ruinous fines that would devastate these communities. The lower courts refused to intervene, dismissing the Petitioners’ constitutional claims and allowing the Respondents to trample both the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause and the Fourteenth Amendment’s parental rights protections. Now, the Supreme Court is being asked to restore what should be beyond debate: parents of faith must not be coerced into abandoning their beliefs.

America’s Frontline Doctors maintains the position that forcing injections without religious accommodation is a gross violation of parental rights, religious liberty, and informed consent. The federal government itself recently reinstated the Task Force on Safer Childhood Vaccines, acknowledging the need for continued safety review. Parents must not be compelled to submit their children to injections while safety questions remain and while the Constitution protects their right to refuse unwanted medical treatments.

“New York’s actions represent a constitutional crisis,” said AFLDS attorney David Dalia. “The government has no authority to bulldoze religious communities into submission. The New York Health Department can’t repeal the Constitution. To ruinously fine Amish parents for refusing to renounce their religious beliefs is not healthcare. It is tyranny. The steadfast Amish, always ready to help their neighbors when facing disaster, now face their own disaster created by the state of New York. The Constitution is crystal clear. Parents have fundamental rights to the free exercise of their religion and to direct their children’s upbringing and medical care. We will not allow states to trample that right.”

AFLDS Founder and President Dr. Simone Gold added: “This is about liberty, not medicine. From the beginning, AFLDS has stood for informed consent and medical freedom. Every parent has the God-given right to protect their child according to their faith and conscience. When a state says no exemptions exist, it destroys trust and violates the most sacred rights Americans hold. AFLDS will fight tirelessly until these abuses are struck down.”

This case is about far more than one Amish community. It will determine whether America continues to protect the free exercise of religion, parental authority, and informed consent, or whether states will be empowered to impose one-size-fits-all mandates that crush conscience and faith. If allowed to stand, New York’s no-exemption mandate would set a devastating precedent - erasing religious liberty, stripping parents of their rightful authority, and forcing communities of faith to choose between conscience and compliance. AFLDS calls on the Supreme Court to act decisively and reaffirm that these rights are fundamental and non-negotiable.

Stay tuned - AFLDS will continue to update the public as this case moves forward and as we fight nationwide to safeguard truth, health, and freedom.

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About AFLDS

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Media Contact Lisa Alexander, Communications Director | Media@AFLDS.org