'Vaccines Save Lives': CT Attorney General Touts Victory In Religious Exemption Vaccine Case

Connecticut Attorney General William Tong took a victory lap this week when he issued a statement on the dismissal of Spillane vs. Lamont, a lawsuit that argued that the elimination of religious freedom from vaccine requirements was unconstitutional.

The case, which had been in the courts for more than four years, was dismissed on Monday by Superior Court Judge Edward Krumeich in Stamford.

"Vaccines save lives," Tong said. "[Monday’s] decision affirms what we have said since day one—Connecticut’s commonsense school vaccine requirements are lifesaving and lawful."

Connecticut eliminated religious exemption for school vaccine requirements in 2021, CT Mirror reported, which prompted the lawsuit.

Legislators then passed a law earlier this year that reportedly gave the state's Public Health Commission more power in setting vaccine requirements. Republicans vehemently opposed the measure.

"Plaintiffs in this state court challenge, Spillane v. Lamont, had alleged that the elimination of the religious exemption violated the Connecticut and U.S. Constitutions and Connecticut’s Religious Freedom and Restoration Act," Tong said. "The Connecticut Supreme Court in 2024 rejected all of plaintiffs’ claims under the Connecticut and U.S. Constitutions. The Supreme Court remanded to the Superior Court to review further the plaintiffs’ claims made pursuant to Connecticut’s Religious Freedom and Restoration Act."

Under state law, students receive certain vaccinations before they are enrolled in school, according to Tong, but before 2021, students could apply for medical or religious exemptions to that requirement.

Connecticut is reportedly one of five states that do not allow for religious exemptions for school vaccines, but the state grandfathered the K-12 students who had already received such exemptions.

In a statement to Patch, attorney Lindy Urso, who represented the plaintiffs, called Tong, Gov. Ned Lamont and House Speaker Matt Ritter, all three Democrats, cowardly in the way the state adjudicated the case. He also filed a blistering Memorandum in Opposition to Motion about the dismissal.

"Attorney General Tong, as usual, is lying to the public," Urso said. "They didn’t win this fight in court - they fled from it. Attorney General Tong, Speaker Ritter and Governor Lamont lied back in 2021 when they said they were confident the repeal would withstand judicial review."

Urso added, "In the most despicable legal maneuver I’ve seen in my 30 years of practice, the defendants literally changed the law on the eve of trial with the specific aim of avoiding a judicial determination that they knew would not end in their favor. They are gutless cowards, the lot of them."