(Carmine Sabia) Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett denied an appeal from Indiana University students to stop the school’s vaccine mandate, which could mean that similar mandates from other schools could stand.
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Justice Barrett has jurisdiction over the appeals court in the case and made the decision on her own, Fox News reported.
Indiana University told students and employees that they are required to be vaccinated by the start of the fall term on August 23. Students who don’t comply will have their registration canceled, and employees who don’t comply will lose their jobs.
A three-judge federal appeals court panel, including two judges appointed by former President Donald Trump, was one of two lower courts to side with Indiana University and allow it to require vaccinations. The plan announced in May requires roughly 90,000 students and 40,000 employees on seven campuses to receive COVID-19 vaccinations for the fall semester.
In July, an Indiana district court judge sided with the university in declining to issue a preliminary injunction blocking the vaccine mandate. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit voted 3-0 to uphold the decision earlier this week. Two of the three appellate judges were appointed by Trump and the third by former President Ronald Reagan.
“Students are facing IU’s imminent demand that they relinquish their constitutional rights in order to start school this fall,” an attorney for the students, James Bopp, said. “IU is coercing students to give up their rights to bodily integrity, autonomy, and of medical treatment choice in exchange for the discretionary benefit of matriculating at IU.”
“The risk of serious morbidity and mortality from COVID for those under 30 is close to zero,” he said. “The known and unknown risks associated with COVID vaccines, particularly in those under 30, outweigh the risks to that population from the disease itself.”
“‘Protection of others’ does not relieve our society from the central canon of medical ethics requiring voluntary and informed consent,” he said.
Prior to the case reaching Justice Barrett, lower courts ruled against the students, citing a ruling from 1905 that said schools could require a smallpox vaccine.
A panel of Republican-appointed judges on the 7th Circuit court of appeals said that vaccination requirements “have been common in this nation” and said that the school’s policies have exemptions for those with religious reasons for not wanting the vaccines or who have medical issues.
“These plaintiffs just need to wear a mask and be tested, requirements that are not constitutionally problematic,” the judges said. They said that students who did not want to adhere to the vaccination requirements could “go elsewhere.”
“Each university may decide what is necessary to keep other students safe in a congregate setting,” Judge Frank Easterbrook of the 7th Circuit said. “Vaccinations protect not only the vaccinated persons but also those who come in contact with them, and at a university close contact is inevitable.”
“A university will have trouble operating when each student fears that everyone else may be spreading diseases,” the judges said. “Few people want to return to remote education – and we do not think that the Constitution forces the distance-learning approach on a university that believes vaccination (or masks and frequent testing of the unvaccinated) will make in-person operations safe enough.”
Chuck Carney, an Indiana University spokesperson, said that 85% of faculty, students and staff are already “approaching full vaccination.”
“With a third ruling, now from the nation’s highest court, affirming Indiana University’s COVID-19 vaccination plan, we look forward to beginning fall semester with our health and safety policies in place,” he said.
The students are “disappointed that Justice Barrett refused to intervene” but they have vowed to continue to fight at lower courts.
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Source:
https://conservativebrief.com/justice-rules-48205/
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