Court upholds state law eliminating religious exemption to state vaccination requirements for school children | 12 Jan 2022 | A federal court has upheld a new state law that eliminates a religious exemption to state vaccination requirements for communicable diseases, including COVID-19, for public and private school students. Two organizations, We the Patriots USA and CT Freedom Alliance, joined three parents with different religious beliefs in a suit against a variety of state agencies and local school boards in an effort to block enforcement of the law. The groups and the parents claimed the new law violates a number of constitutional protections, among them the freedom to practice religion and rear children. U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton dismissed the suit in its entirety.