NHFA has been closely watching, reporting on, and incorporating into our legal understanding a wide variety of court challenges to what we might call the “COVID regime” of mandated vaccines, masks, and other measures facing us since 2020. Here are some of the key legal decisions around the USA.

Michigan Supreme Court Protects Public from
Unconstitutional Emergency Powers

In response to a lawsuit contesting the governor’s power to impose business closures and other COVID-19 measures, on October 2, 2020, The Supreme Court of the State of Michigan issued an opinion declaring the Michigan EPGA (Emergency Powers of the Governor Act) unconstitutional.  The Court’s conclusion was based on the fact that the law “purports to delegate to the executive branch, the legislative powers of state government—including its plenary police powers—and to allow the exercise of such powers indefinitely.” The Michigan Attorney General issued a statement saying that in light of the Supreme Court’s decision the AG will no longer enforce the Governor’s Executive Orders through criminal prosecution.

Protecting Exemptions

On September 15, 2021 we reported on two cases supporting the Right to Refuse unwanted vaccines: In Michigan, the US District Court granted a preliminary injunction against Western Michigan University for denial of religious exemptions; in New York, the District Court in Utica granted a temporary restraining order protecting health care workers from a state Department of Health vaccine mandate, which also failed to include a religious exemption. Next, on October 12, 2021, we weighed in on three more legal victories: in Minnesota, facing a pending lawsuit, the University of Minnesota, Duluth agreed to accept COVID-19 vaccine exemptions for conscientiously-held beliefs; back in New York, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit focused on the state’s failure to allow religious exemptions to its state employee mandate; and in Florida, the state court granted an injunction against the City of Gainesville’s worker vaccine requirement. The city did not offer any evidence at the injunction hearing, so the court was not able to determine, “whether the Vaccine Mandate meets a strict scrutiny test, a rational basis test, or whether it meets any other standard.”

 US Supreme Court Halts OSHA Mandates – Mixed Opinions

In January, 2022 NHFC reported on, “Split Decisions: Supreme Court Halts OSHA Vaccine Mandate, Allows Medicare/Medicaid Worker Rule to Stand.” That month, the US Supreme Court overturned OSHA’s large-employer vaccine-or-test rule. The court noted that the OSHA rule is no “everyday exercise of federal power—-It is instead a significant encroachment into the lives and health of a vast number of employees.” The majority said this mandate is “strikingly unlike” typical OSHA rules since vaccination “cannot be undone at the end of the workday.” The same day as the OSHA decision, SCOTUS issued a 5 to 4 ruling on Biden’s Medicare/Medicaid healthcare worker mandate. The majority found that the vaccine rule and the mission of these programs are closely related enough to justify a sweeping mandate. 

Judge Halts Federal Employee Vaccine Mandates

Also in January, we noted that the US District Court for Texas’ Judge Jeffery Vincent Brown put a halt on the federal employee COVID-19 vaccine mandate. He pointed out that this case was not about whether people should get vaccinated against Covid-19 or about whether the government has the power to mandate vaccination of its employees, but rather about “whether the President can, with the stroke of a pen and without the input of Congress, require millions of federal employees to undergo a medical procedure as a condition of their employment. That, under the current state of the law as just recently expressed by the Supreme Court, is a bridge too far.”  

 Illinois Court Halts Mask and Vaccine/Testing Rules
for Schools Across the State!

This February, the Circuit Court in Sangamon County Illinois issued a state-wide Temporary Restraining Order, halting mask and vaccine-or-testing mandates for students and staff which had been implemented by 170 school districts. The judge pointed out that when the state’s “emergency” rules were issued, COVID-19 had been around for one ½ years, and vaccines had been available for nine months. This time lag led the judge to doubt the existence of a true emergency.

District of Columbia Minor Vaccine Consent Law Unlawful

On March 18, the US District Court in Washington, DC took a stand for parents’ rights in a preliminary ruling that stated that a District of Columbia’s law violates both federal supremacy rules and the Free Exercise clause of the US Constitution. The 2020 DC law that was halted allowed 11-year-olds to consent to vaccination without parental consent or knowledge. Judge Trevor N. McFadden found both that federal law preempts the District of Columbia’s 2020 law and that the D.C. statute violates constitutional religious freedom.

 District Court in Florida: CDC Travelers’ Mask Mandate Unlawful

In a major April 18 opinion, Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle of the US District Court, Middle District of Florida, granted a summary judgement and ruled that the CDC’s mask rule for travelers, commonly known as the Mask Mandate, is unlawful. Judge Mizelle found that the Mandate goes beyond CDC’s statutory authority and also that it violated the rule-making process in the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).

 LAUSD Vaccine Mandate Preempted by State Law

In July, Judge Mitchell Beckloff of the Superior Court of Los Angeles delivered a ruling in July striking down the LA Unified School District’s student COVID-19 vaccine mandate. Beckloff noted that the petitioners were not challenging the wisdom of the Resolution at this time; instead, they were challenging the legal right of LAUSD to make vaccine rules that are broader than California state standards. Ultimately the judge ruled that LAUSD’s mandate was illegal because it both lacked a personal belief exemption and was preempted by state law. 

 Judge Protects Religious Rights of Marines

Back on March 20, 2022, we had reported on a decision by Judge Steve Merryday of the Federal District Court in Tampa in which he found that the Navy and Marines were wrongfully denying religious exemptions to COVID-19 vaccines. On August 18, this same judge has ruled in another related case that the Marine Corps is still denying exemptions in a manner that violates service members’  religious freedom. In this case, the Marine Corps had a 0.295% approval rate for religious-based exemptions.

As all these cases show, our legal system is working to protect our rights during the COVID-19 pandemic. And while we have a long way to go to achieve health freedom in the USA, each step in the right direction is worth celebrating!