In a landmark ruling earlier this month, the U.S. Court docket of Appeals for the tenth Circuit delivered a scathing rebuke to the College of Colorado Anschutz Medical College, declaring its COVID-19 vaccine mandate unconstitutional.
The 55-page ruling emphasised that the mandate to exclude non secular exemptions was tainted by “non secular animus” and thus violated the First Modification’s safety of non secular freedom.
The court docket’s ruling overturns an earlier ruling by a decrease court docket and ends a contentious authorized motion introduced by the Thomas Extra Society on behalf of 17 school, workers and college students.
These people face extreme penalties, together with dismissal and expulsion, for refusing to adjust to the college’s vaccine coverage due to their deep-seated non secular beliefs.
In September 2021, the College of Colorado required all people getting into its services or collaborating in its packages to obtain a COVID-19 vaccine, with strictly restricted exemptions, underneath its controversial coverage. Authorized challenges rapidly emerged as affected events claimed their non secular freedom rights had been violated.
“Attorneys for the Thomas Extra Society filed a lawsuit in September 2021 within the U.S. District Court docket for the District of Colorado towards the College of Colorado, the dean of the Anschutz Medical School, and the varsity’s senior affiliate dean for medical schooling. The unique lawsuit was towards a Catholic In October 2021, greater than a dozen school, workers, and college students have been added to the lawsuit, filed by docs and a Buddhist pupil who have been prevented from getting vaccinated due to their honest and deeply held non secular beliefs. They’re in search of illegal discrimination and abuse towards the college. Basic constitutional rights to injunctive reduction, damages and attorneys’ charges,” the Thomas Extra Society stated in its press launch.
Peter Breen, government vice chairman and litigation director of the Thomas Extra Society, stated: “The Court docket of Attraction has now made clear that the College of Colorado abused school, workers and college students of religion in the course of the coronavirus pandemic. What we struggle. These well being care suppliers have been hailed as heroes as a result of they bravely served on the entrance traces in the course of the worst of the pandemic, however when their non secular rules conflicted with these of College of Colorado bureaucrats, these heroes have been Ruthlessly deserted.
“With this ruling in favor of our consumer, the Court docket of Appeals has made clear that individuals of religion will not be second-class residents—they deserve the total respect and safety of the U.S. Structure within the free train of their non secular beliefs. By being unlawful and intrusive By completely investigating the non secular beliefs of our school, workers, and college students, the worth judgments made by the College not solely smack of non secular bigotry but in addition violate our prospects’ constitutional rights and primary decency. We’re grateful for the court docket’s robust ruling in favor of non secular freedom.
“The Court docket of Attraction appropriately dominated that no governmental entity has the authority to nominate itself a doctrinal tribunal to outline which non secular beliefs are thought-about deeply and sincerely held and to think about these non secular beliefs to be legitimate or invalid. We’re additionally inspired that , this ruling reaffirms and strengthens our primary First Modification protections for numerous others sooner or later,” Breen stated.
The court docket’s findings are a surprising revelation of how college administrations make arbitrary selections about what constitutes authentic non secular beliefs.
Particular examples cited within the ruling included unfair remedy of Roman Catholic and Buddhist candidates, whose objections to vaccination have been handled as purely private beliefs slightly than real non secular beliefs.
Moreover, the court docket questioned the sincerity of the college’s intrusive questioning of candidates’ non secular beliefs, a follow that not solely undermined private dignity but in addition violated constitutional protections.
