BECKLEY, WV (WOAY) – Raleigh County Circuit Judge Michael Froble has granted a temporary injunction in a high-profile challenge to the West Virginia and Raleigh County Board of Educations’ policy of no religious exemptions to mandatory vaccines in public schools.
The state board says it is following state law, which only explicitly allows medical exemptions for mandatory vaccines. In today’s hearing, counsel for the Raleigh County Board of Education said the county board has to follow policy set by the state board, although Superintendent Serena Starcher is in support of the policy.
In his ruling, Froble sided with the plaintiffs, Miranda Guzman and several other Raleigh County parents, who have elected not to vaccinate their children due to religious beliefs and wish to enroll their children in public school.
“The court believes that the compulsory vaccination law is not valid without a religious exemption,” Froble said. “That statute itself is not constitutional and is inviolable without a religious exemption. ”
The ruling, a win for advocates opposed to mandatory vaccine laws, has not made the situation any clearer for state and county boards of education.
“Anything I would add from an armchair quarterback position would be of no value right now,” L. Paul Hardesty, president of the state board of education, told reporters shortly after the injunction was issued. “We’ve got a lot to digest. But today is a sad day for public health.”
Counsel for the plaintiffs argued that the state board of education’s policy prohibiting religious exemptions to mandatory vaccines runs afoul of First Amendment freedoms.
“The loss of First Amendment freedoms to religious liberty, even for short periods of time, has been recognized as irreparable by the United States Supreme Court,” Chris Wiest, an attorney for Guzman and the other plaintiffs, said.
Counsel for the state and county boards of education argued that the law allows only a medical exemption to vaccines and is an important contributor to community health.
Ultimately, Froble ruled that constitutional rights and the 2023 Equal Protection for Religion Act require religious exemptions to vaccines.
That view is shared by Governor Patrick Morrisey, who described today’s injunction as a win in a statement made on social media.
“Big victory for religious liberty in West Virginia! We will continue to defend our 2023 Equal Protection for Religion law so that no child in the state is denied an education based on their religious beliefs. More work in front of us, but we are now 2-0 in the courts!” Morrisey said in a post on X, the social media platform previously known as Twitter.
Morrisey backed the lawsuit in Raleigh County and issued an executive order directing state government to begin honoring religious exemptions.
A challenge to that executive order was dismissed in Kanawha County Circuit Court yesterday, due to a failure to notify state agencies thirty days before the lawsuit was filed.
In a press conference in Beckley in June announcing his support for the lawsuit, Governor Morrisey told reporters that his administration has made the issue a priority, even if it conflicts with the state school board’s policy.
“We’re not going to stand by and let an unelected board of bureaucrats set aside core constitutional and religious freedoms,” he said at the time.
Judge Froble’s ruling is narrow in scope. It only affects the parents who brought the lawsuit forward and does not apply to the entire state.
That places the issue in limbo, as the state board of education needs to evaluate how it will respond to this ruling. It could appeal the injunction to the state supreme court. If that doesn’t happen, Judge Froble will hold another hearing to consider making the injunction permanent.
“While the West Virginia Board of Education is disappointed by the ruling, members of the board will decide next steps in the near future. This injunction is limited in scope and applies only to those named in this lawsuit. It will have no impact on other students in Raleigh County or throughout the state,” the state board of education said in a media release this afternoon. “As students prepare for the upcoming school year, families are encouraged to comply with West Virginia’s compulsory vaccination laws (W. Va. Code § 16-3-4) as required by legislative statute.”
The hearing attracted a number of health advocates and medical professionals, who say they are concerned by challenges to the state’s mandatory vaccination law. Dr. Joseph Golden, a Raleigh County physician, says vaccines are key to protecting community health.
“Vaccination is a key part of maintaining the nation’s health,” he said. “The value of vaccines is not just to protect the individual, but to protect the community by having sufficient number of people who are immune. That creates what we call herd immunity to protect others, those who may not be able to get the vaccine because of their own particular medical problems.”
