Barrett was recently tasked with reviewing an emergency petition filed by students at the University of Indiana. The students are fighting a recent mandate that all students and faculty need to receive the COVID-19 experimental vaccine in order to be on campus. Lawyers representing eight students urged the Supreme Court to block the school’s mandate for the experimental COVID-19 vaccines.
However, instead of Barrett referring this particular case to the court, she denied the appeal and upheld the school’s vaccine mandate.
Barrett’s ruling places these students and faculty in the crosshairs since the school has stated that they could face losing their jobs or education without taking the experimental jab by August 23rd.
Where is the freedom in that?
Here’s the latest:
FOX News reported:
Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett denied an appeal from students at Indiana University to block the school’s vaccine mandate.
Barrett, who has jurisdiction over the appeals court involved in the case, denied the students request for an injunction against Indiana University’s vaccine mandate on her own without consulting other colleagues on the court and without hearing from the school.
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.
The mandate was being challenged by eight students who argued in court papers filed Friday last week that they have “a constitutional right to bodily integrity, autonomy, and of medical treatment choice in the context of a vaccination mandate.” The students asked for an injunction from the High Court barring the university from enforcing the mandate. Seven of the students qualify for a religious exemption.
From Axios:
Why it matters: Barrett’s denial, which was made without any dissent from other justices, upholds lower court rulings that deemed that the school had a right to mandate vaccinations.
- It may also dent separate challenges to other university coronavirus vaccine mandates that are pending in federal courts
The big picture: Indiana University mandated that students must be vaccinated unless they qualify for an exemption due to related medical issues or religious objections.
- If they obtained an exemption, the students are required to wear masks and get tested twice a week.
- Public and private entities are increasingly mandating vaccines in response to a new wave of coronavirus cases driven by the Delta variant of the virus, including at least 720 colleges or universities, according to a tally kept by the Chronical of Higher Education.
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