SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Protesters hold placards with anti-vaccine slogans on June 10, 2021 at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. A group of students from the school unsuccessfully challenged its coronavirus vaccination mandate. (Photo: Jeremy Hogan/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Supreme Court Rejects Challenge to Indiana University's Vaccine Mandate
In a first-of-its-kind ruling during the Covid-19 pandemic, Justice Amy Coney Barrett dismissed an emergency appeal from students opposed to the school's requirement.
Aug 12, 2021
After losing two rounds in lower federal courts, a group of Indiana University students challenging the school's coronavirus vaccine were dealt a final blow Thursday as the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the college's vaccination requirement.
In the first coronavirus vaccine mandate challenge of its kind before the nation's highest court, the eight Indiana University (I.U.) students requested an emergency order, arguing that they are adults who are "entitled to make their own medical treatment decisions, and have a constitutional right to bodily integrity, autonomy, and of medical treatment choice in the context of a vaccination mandate."
"I.U., however, is treating its students as children who cannot be trusted to make mature decisions," they said, accusing university officials of substituting themselves "for both the student and her attending physician, mandating a choice which is the student's to make, based on her physician's advice."
Justice Amy Coney Barrett--who handles emergency appeals from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit--chose not to bring the matter before the full Supreme Court. She provided no explanation for her decision.
Earlier this month, an all-Republican panel of judges on the 7th Circuit Court denied (pdf) a request to issue an injunction against I.U.'s vaccine mandate, upholding a lower federal court's ruling.
The panel cited Jacobson v. Massachusetts, a 1905 U.S. Supreme Court decision holding that states can require all members of the public to be vaccinated against smallpox--a disease with a 30% mortality rate that killed millions of people each year until it was eradicated in the late 20th century following a worldwide vaccination campaign.
Given Jacobson, the 7th Circuit ruled, "there can't be a constitutional problem with vaccination against SARS-CoV-2," the coronavirus that causes Covid-19.
Furthermore, the court said that "this case is easier than Jacobson," because unlike Massachusetts' universal vaccine mandate at issue in that case, I.U. offers students medical and religious exemptions from vaccination.
The 7th Circuit judges also noted that students "who do not want to be vaccinated may go elsewhere" for schooling.
"Many universities require vaccination against SARS-CoV-2, but many others do not," they said. "Plaintiffs have ample educational opportunities."
According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, over 700 of the more than 5,000 accredited U.S. institutions of higher learning currently require students to be inoculated against the coronavirus.
Thursday's Supreme Court move comes a day after California became the first state to require all school staff members to prove they are vaccinated against the coronavirus or submit to weekly Covid-19 testing, an approach endorsed by U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten, and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
After losing two rounds in lower federal courts, a group of Indiana University students challenging the school's coronavirus vaccine were dealt a final blow Thursday as the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the college's vaccination requirement.
In the first coronavirus vaccine mandate challenge of its kind before the nation's highest court, the eight Indiana University (I.U.) students requested an emergency order, arguing that they are adults who are "entitled to make their own medical treatment decisions, and have a constitutional right to bodily integrity, autonomy, and of medical treatment choice in the context of a vaccination mandate."
"I.U., however, is treating its students as children who cannot be trusted to make mature decisions," they said, accusing university officials of substituting themselves "for both the student and her attending physician, mandating a choice which is the student's to make, based on her physician's advice."
Justice Amy Coney Barrett--who handles emergency appeals from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit--chose not to bring the matter before the full Supreme Court. She provided no explanation for her decision.
Earlier this month, an all-Republican panel of judges on the 7th Circuit Court denied (pdf) a request to issue an injunction against I.U.'s vaccine mandate, upholding a lower federal court's ruling.
The panel cited Jacobson v. Massachusetts, a 1905 U.S. Supreme Court decision holding that states can require all members of the public to be vaccinated against smallpox--a disease with a 30% mortality rate that killed millions of people each year until it was eradicated in the late 20th century following a worldwide vaccination campaign.
Given Jacobson, the 7th Circuit ruled, "there can't be a constitutional problem with vaccination against SARS-CoV-2," the coronavirus that causes Covid-19.
Furthermore, the court said that "this case is easier than Jacobson," because unlike Massachusetts' universal vaccine mandate at issue in that case, I.U. offers students medical and religious exemptions from vaccination.
The 7th Circuit judges also noted that students "who do not want to be vaccinated may go elsewhere" for schooling.
"Many universities require vaccination against SARS-CoV-2, but many others do not," they said. "Plaintiffs have ample educational opportunities."
According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, over 700 of the more than 5,000 accredited U.S. institutions of higher learning currently require students to be inoculated against the coronavirus.
Thursday's Supreme Court move comes a day after California became the first state to require all school staff members to prove they are vaccinated against the coronavirus or submit to weekly Covid-19 testing, an approach endorsed by U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten, and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci.
After losing two rounds in lower federal courts, a group of Indiana University students challenging the school's coronavirus vaccine were dealt a final blow Thursday as the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the college's vaccination requirement.
In the first coronavirus vaccine mandate challenge of its kind before the nation's highest court, the eight Indiana University (I.U.) students requested an emergency order, arguing that they are adults who are "entitled to make their own medical treatment decisions, and have a constitutional right to bodily integrity, autonomy, and of medical treatment choice in the context of a vaccination mandate."
"I.U., however, is treating its students as children who cannot be trusted to make mature decisions," they said, accusing university officials of substituting themselves "for both the student and her attending physician, mandating a choice which is the student's to make, based on her physician's advice."
Justice Amy Coney Barrett--who handles emergency appeals from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit--chose not to bring the matter before the full Supreme Court. She provided no explanation for her decision.
Earlier this month, an all-Republican panel of judges on the 7th Circuit Court denied (pdf) a request to issue an injunction against I.U.'s vaccine mandate, upholding a lower federal court's ruling.
The panel cited Jacobson v. Massachusetts, a 1905 U.S. Supreme Court decision holding that states can require all members of the public to be vaccinated against smallpox--a disease with a 30% mortality rate that killed millions of people each year until it was eradicated in the late 20th century following a worldwide vaccination campaign.
Given Jacobson, the 7th Circuit ruled, "there can't be a constitutional problem with vaccination against SARS-CoV-2," the coronavirus that causes Covid-19.
Furthermore, the court said that "this case is easier than Jacobson," because unlike Massachusetts' universal vaccine mandate at issue in that case, I.U. offers students medical and religious exemptions from vaccination.
The 7th Circuit judges also noted that students "who do not want to be vaccinated may go elsewhere" for schooling.
"Many universities require vaccination against SARS-CoV-2, but many others do not," they said. "Plaintiffs have ample educational opportunities."
According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, over 700 of the more than 5,000 accredited U.S. institutions of higher learning currently require students to be inoculated against the coronavirus.
Thursday's Supreme Court move comes a day after California became the first state to require all school staff members to prove they are vaccinated against the coronavirus or submit to weekly Covid-19 testing, an approach endorsed by U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten, and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.