Court rejects challenge to
Connecticut law that eliminated
religious vaccination exemption
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a challenge to a 2021 Connecticut law that eliminated the state's longstanding religious exemption from childhood immunization requirements for schools, colleges and day care facilities.
The justices did not comment in leaving in place a federal appeals court ruling that upheld the contentious law. A lower court judge had earlier dismissed the lawsuit challenging the law, which drew protests at the state Capitol.
Connecticut law requires students to receive certain immunizations before enrolling in school, allowing some medical exemptions. Prior to 2021, students also could seek religious exemptions. Lawmakers ended the religious exemption over concerns that an uptick in exemption requests was coupled with a decline in vaccination rates in some schools.
The change allowed current students in K-12 who already had a religious exemption to keep it.
"This is the end of the road to a challenge to Connecticut's lifesaving and fully lawful vaccine requirements," Democratic Attorney General William Tong said in a statement. "We have said all along, and the courts have affirmed, the legislature acted responsibly and well within its authority to protect the health of Connecticut families and to stop the spread of preventable disease."
Brian Festa, vice president and co-founder for the group We The Patriots USA Inc., a lead plaintiff in the case, called the decision "disappointing" but said it's "not the end of the road for us in our fight to win back religious exemptions for schoolchildren."
The group — which has challenged other vaccination laws, including for COVID-19 — had argued along with several parents that Connecticut violated religious freedom protections by removing the exemption. The new law shows a hostility to religious believers and jeopardizes their rights to medical freedom and child rearing, they said in court papers.
Tong's office said only one part of the case remains active. It involves a single plaintiff's claim based on the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
While the office said it was confident the claim will be dismissed, Festa said federal law is clear that schools are required to provide "a free and appropriate education" for children with disabilities who have individual education plans, even if a child claims a religious exemption to vaccinations.
We The Patriots USA also has an ongoing federal lawsuit filed on behalf of a Christian preschool and daycare that's challenging Connecticut's vaccine mandate on constitutional grounds.
"It is our practice at We The Patriots USA to battle on many fronts simultaneously, and to never put all of our eggs in one basket," Festa said, calling the Supreme Court's decision on Monday "one setback, but far from a total defeat."
Justices reject appeal from
ex-reality star Josh Duggar
By Lindsay Whitehurst
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal from Josh Duggar, a former reality television star convicted of downloading child sexual abuse images.
Duggar was on the TLC show "19 Kids and Counting" with his large family before his 2021 conviction.
The court did not elaborate on the denial, as is typical.
Federal authorities investigated after police in Little Rock, Arkansas, found child sexual abuse material was being shared by a computer traced to him.
Investigators testified that images depicting the sexual abuse of children, including toddlers, were downloaded in 2019 onto a computer at a car dealership Duggar owned. He was sentenced to 12 and one-half years in prison.
Lower courts have upheld his conviction, rejecting Duggar's argument that his attorneys should have been able to ask about the prior sex-offense conviction of a former employee of the dealership who had used the same computer. Duggar's attorneys did not ask the former employee to testify after the judge ruled they could not mention the prior conviction.
TLC canceled "19 Kids and Counting" in 2015 following allegations that Duggar had molested four of his sisters and a babysitter years earlier. Authorities began investigating after receiving a tip from a family friend but concluded that the statute of limitations on any possible charges had expired.
Duggar's parents said after the allegations resurfaced in 2015 that he had confessed to the fondling and apologized privately. Duggar then apologized publicly for unspecified behavior and resigned as a lobbyist for the Family Research Council, a conservative Christian group.
Court turns dowwn COVID-19 vaccine
appeals from nonprofit founded
by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday rejected two appeals related to COVID-19 vaccines from Children's Health Defense, the anti-vaccine nonprofit founded by independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The justices did not comment in letting stand rulings against the group from the federal appeals courts in New Orleans and Philadelphia.
In a case from Texas, the group joined parents in objecting to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's authorization to administer coronavirus vaccines to children. In a case from New Jersey, Children's Health Defense challenged a Rutgers University requirement, imposed in 2021, for most students to be vaccinated to attend courses on campus, though the school did not force faculty or staff to be vaccinated.
Children's Health Defense has a lawsuit pending against a number of news organizations, among them The Associated Press, accusing them of violating antitrust laws by taking action to identify misinformation, including about COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines. Kennedy took leave from the group when he announced his run for president but is listed as one of its attorneys in the lawsuit.
Challenge to new horse racing
anti-doping rules rejected
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a challenge from Republican-controlled states to a horse racing safety law that has led to national medication and anti-doping rules.
The justices left in place an appeals court ruling that upheld the law and rejected claims that Congress gave too much power to the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, the private entity that administers the rules.
Charles Scheeler, chairman of HISA's board of directors, cited a 38% decline in equine fatalities for the first three months of this year in applauding the court's decision.
"HISA's uniform standards are having a material, positive impact on the health and well-being of horses," he said in a statement.
Oklahoma, Louisiana and West Virginia sought to have the law struck down, joined by other racetracks that are not operating under HISA.
"I've said all along that we are going to do our due diligence all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court to ensure that the rules governing horsemen are fair, clear and constitutional," said Eric Hamelback, CEO of the National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association.
Two other cases are pending in federal court, one in the 5th Circuit and another in the 8th Circuit.
"We still could hear any day from the 5th Circuit on whether HISA remains unconstitutional after the congressional tweak, and the oral argument last October went well for us," Hamelback said.
Both Scheeler and National Thoroughbred Racing Association president and CEO Tom Rooney urged HISA opponents to end their litigation.
"It is long past time for opponents of HISA to drop their outstanding lawsuits," Scheeler said. "In light of this decision, continued litigation only serves to take time and valuable resources away from our core mission of improving the safety and integrity of thoroughbred racing."
Rooney added, "It is time for all parties to stop their internal fighting and support HISA as the law of the land."
The anti-doping program, which took effect in the spring of 2023, is an attempt to centralize the drug testing of racehorses and manage the results, as well as dole out uniform penalties to horses and trainers instead of the previous patchwork rules in the 38 racing states.
"This decision will allow HISA to continue its work to protect the health and safety of equine athletes, thereby fostering greater confidence and integrity in the sport of thoroughbred racing," Rooney said in a statement.
Legislation to dismantle the new authority was introduced in September in the House of Representatives but hasn't gone anywhere.
