The Steamship Authority workers that have been challenging the ferry line’s Covid vaccine policy have had their arguments again rejected by a federal judge.

Judge Richard Stearns last week denied the preliminary injunction request from 11 current and former Steamship employees who claimed the Authority’s vaccine requirements infringed on their constitutional rights.

The employees, some of whom did eventually get vaccinated, claimed the policy denied their First Amendment rights on religious grounds. The employees asked for a preliminary injunction to halt the enforcement, arguing another boat captain received a medical exemption.

But in his 20-page Dec. 11 order, Judge Stearns did not buy the argument, saying the medical exemption granted to the employee was only temporary.

“Limiting COVID-19 infection and transmission is of course a legitimate governmental interest,” Judge Stearns wrote. “And requiring all employees to be vaccinated, subject to limited exemptions, is rationally related to that interest.”

Judge Stearns concluded that the Steamship’s Covid policy, requiring employees to be vaccinated in February 2022, was neutral and didn’t treat secular activities any different than religious when laying out its exemptions.

This is the second time Judge Stearns has denied a request for a preliminary injunction from the employees. He initially denied the motion in March 2022, and the group appealed the decision to the First Circuit Court of Appeals.

There, a panel of judges upheld some of Judge Stearns’ orders, but ruled he had not considered the medical exemption nor did he “engage with the question of the level of scrutiny to which the [Covid vaccine policy] should be subjected.”

Patrick Daubert, the attorney for some of the employees, previously said they were seeking to reinstate employees who had been terminated for not following the vaccine mandate. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

Steamship Authority spokesperson Sean Driscoll declined to comment, citing the ongoing legal issue.

-Ethan Genter