Justice Elena Kagan asked San Diego Unified district to respond to lawsuit calling for student religious exemptions to COVID-19 vaccine mandate
A student who sued the San Diego Unified School District over its student COVID-19 vaccine mandate asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday to intervene on her behalf.
The student’s lawsuit takes issue with a vaccination mandate that the San Diego school board approved in late September for staff members and all students 16 or older. Students have to get their second vaccine dose by Dec. 20 to comply with the mandate, otherwise they won’t be allowed to attend school in person or to participate in extracurricular activities starting Jan. 24.because it is not allowing religious exemptions to the mandate for students.
“Federal court judges at the trial and appellate court levels have thoroughly reviewed and considered this case, including the persistent mischaracterization of the district’s vaccination program by the lawyers challenging it,” Mark Bresee, the attorney representing San Diego Unified in the lawsuit, said in a statement. “These jurists have applied the law to the actual facts, and have correctly concluded that the program is lawful.
Unlike students, San Diego Unified staff members are allowed to request religious exemptions to the mandate because federal law allows for such requests, district officials have said.