San Francisco-based BART loses retrial in religious bias case

The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District, better known as BART, lost its attempt to get a new trial in a lawsuit brought by seven workers who alleged the transit system violated their First Amendment rights by operating on the basis of their religious beliefs Convictions refused to accept Covid-19 vaccines.

Due to the number of plaintiffs in the lawsuit, the trial was divided into phases. The first phase took place in July, in which the court accepted a partial verdict in favor of only three plaintiffs in their prima facie cases, but otherwise declared a mistrial after the jury deadlocked in the transit trial…