Latest news with #MountainStateJustice
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Judge dismisses ACLU's lawsuit against West Virginia over Morrisey's vaccine executive order
Aubrey Sparks, legal director for ACLU-WV, argues in support of their lawsuit against the state Wednesday in front of Kanawha County Circuit Judge Kenneth Ballard. The judge dismissed the lawsuit on procedural grounds. (Lori Kersey | West Virginia Watch) A Kanawha County judge has dismissed a legal action filed against the state Department of Health over its compliance with Gov. Patrick Morrisey's executive order requiring it to issue religious exemptions to the state's school-required vaccinations. Circuit Judge Kenneth Ballard dismissed the suit — filed by plaintiffs represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia and Mountain State Justice — on procedural grounds without addressing the merits of the case. He agreed with an attorney representing the state that the ACLU had failed to meet a requirement that it notify the state 30 days in advance of filing the lawsuit. 'I think I'm jurisdictionally barred,' Ballard said from the bench Wednesday. 'I think that the petitioners here failed to satisfy the requirements of West Virginia Code 55-17-3 which requires either a …30-day notice or a pleading of injunctive relief.' The judge said the ACLU's complaint and arguments sought a writ of mandamus with little discussion of a request for injunctive relief. 'I don't think you appropriately sought this injunctive relief, I think you only interjected it at the end in an effort to get around this rule,' Ballard said. The ACLU and Mountain State Justice filed the lawsuit May 23 against the state Department of Health on behalf of Marisa Jackson, of Kanawha County, and Dr. Joshua Hess, of Cabell County. Jackson and Hess are both parents of immunocompromised students. Hess is also a pediatric hematologist and oncologist practicing at Marshall Health's Cabell Huntington Hospital. The petition asked the court to compel the state's Department of Health and Bureau for Public Health to stop complying with the executive order requiring the state to allow religious exemptions for vaccine requirements. The state is one of only five in the country that has not allowed religious or philosophical exemptions to school required vaccines. Despite Morrisey's executive order, the state Legislature earlier this year voted down Senate Bill 460, which would have established those religious exemptions in state law. The state Board of Education voted recently to direct county boards of education not to allow religious exemptions. In a separate legal action, a Raleigh County parent whose child was issued a religious exemption by the Department of Health is suing the state and county school boards for not accepting the exemption. A hearing is scheduled for Thursday in the Raleigh County lawsuit. On behalf of the state, attorney Holly Wilson argued that the case can be dismissed for 'myriad reasons,' including that the plaintiffs did not offer pre-suit notice or meet a burden to show standing. 'But if this court decides that it wants to reach the merits or that it should reach the merits, petitioners lose,' she said. 'They can't show a clear legal right. They can't show a legal duty and certainly they can't show a legal duty that's non-discretionary.' The state and Morrisey argue that the state's vaccine laws taken together with a 2023 Equal Protection for Religion Act require the state to allow religious exemptions. Aubrey Sparks, legal director for the ACLU, argued that the ACLU was not required to give the state 30 days notice because of an exception in the law when parties are asking for injunctive relief. Ballard dismissed the case without prejudice, meaning that the ACLU could re-file the lawsuit. Sparks told reporters after the hearing Wednesday it's too soon to say whether the legal advocacy organization would do so. 'It's an open question about what our next steps are because I know that there's a lot of other lawsuits pending on this issue,' Sparks said. 'We want to understand what happens in those but we do feel fundamentally that what the state is doing here is unlawful. But then more concerningly, what the state has argued in this case is so profoundly unconstitutional that we all should be concerned. 'What they functionally came into this courtroom and said is that an act of the governor can just unilaterally swipe off the table any law that he thinks could burden someone's religious exercise, and that's just not supported and not permissible under our constitution.' In a post on the social media platform X Wednesday, Morrisey called the judge's ruling the 'first skirmish of a longer fight.' 'But the ultimate outcome — whether resolved via litigation or a change in statute — is not in doubt,' he said. 'West Virginia is a radical outlier when it comes to onerous vaccine mandates — one of only 5 states in the nation without a statutorily-based, religious exemption. We have an EO based upon our state's religious freedom law that is very strong and must be given meaning. Sadly the state school board is ignoring this important law — they are over reaching and need to be stopped!' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Solve the daily Crossword
CBS News
24-05-2025
- Health
- CBS News
Groups sue over West Virginia governor's order on religious exemptions for school vaccines
Two groups filed a lawsuit Friday over an executive order by West Virginia Republican Gov. Patrick Morrisey granting religious exemptions from required school vaccinations. The American Civil Liberties Union's West Virginia chapter and Mountain State Justice filed the lawsuit against the state Department of Health, its Bureau for Public Health and agency leaders on behalf of two parents in Kanawha County Circuit Court. The vaccine exemption was among several executive orders issued by Morrisey on his first full day in office in January. "Governors do not rule by decree," ACLU-West Virginia legal director Aubrey Sparks said in a statement. "At the center of this lawsuit is who gets to make these decisions for our students. On this question, the state Constitution is clear that the authority lies with the Legislature, not the governor." The governor's office and the Department of Health did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment Friday on the lawsuit. Morrisey's order upended a school vaccination policy long heralded by medical experts as one of the most protective in the country for kids. State law requires children to receive vaccines for chickenpox, hepatitis B, measles, meningitis, mumps, diphtheria, polio, rubella, tetanus and whooping cough before starting school. The state does not require COVID-19 vaccinations. Legislation that would have allowed religious exemptions to vaccination requirements, among other things, was passed by the state Senate and rejected by the House of Delegates earlier this year. State schools Superintendent Michelle Blatt issued a memorandum to all 55 county superintendents May 2 recommending that students not be allowed to attend school in the 2025-26 without required immunizations. But that same day, Blatt rescinded the memo at Morrisey's request, according to the lawsuit. Morrisey later issued a statement saying he had no intention of rescinding the executive order. He said parents can apply for a religious exemption from vaccinations through the Bureau for Public Health. Last year, Republican then-Gov. Jim Justice vetoed a less sweeping vaccination bill passed by the Republican-supermajority Legislature that would have exempted private school and some nontraditional public school students from vaccination requirements. Morrisey, who served as West Virginia's attorney general from 2013 until he was sworn in as governor, said he believes religious exemptions to vaccinations should already be permitted under a 2023 law passed by the state Legislature called the Equal Protection for Religion Act. The law stipulates that the government can't "substantially burden" someone's constitutional right to freedom of religion unless it can prove there is a "compelling interest" to restrict that right. Morrisey has said that law hasn't "been fully and properly enforced" since it passed. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Dr. Joshua Hess of Cabell County and Marisa Jackson of Kanawha County. It said Hess has a child who is immunocompromised and that Jackson has a child who, because of decreased community use of immunizations, is more susceptible to illness. Along with Mississippi, West Virginia is the U.S. state with the worst health outcomes and lowest life expectancy rates. "Parents should be able to know their child will be safe when they send them off to school," said Mountain State Justice executive director Sarah Brown. "We are seeing the devastating effects of loosening vaccine requirements across the country, and that's why the Legislature wisely declined to loosen the restrictions here in West Virginia. It's vital that their decision not be undermined by the executive branch."
Toronto Star
23-05-2025
- Health
- Toronto Star
Groups sue over West Virginia governor's order on religious exemptions for school vaccines
CHARLESTON, (AP) — Two groups filed a lawsuit Friday over an executive order by West Virginia Republican Gov. Patrick Morrisey granting religious exemptions from required school vaccinations. The American Civil Liberties Union's West Virginia chapter and Mountain State Justice filed the lawsuit against the state Department of Health, its Bureau for Public Health and agency leaders on behalf of two parents in Kanawha County Circuit Court.
Washington Post
23-05-2025
- Health
- Washington Post
Groups sue over West Virginia governor's order on religious exemptions for school vaccines
CHARLESTON, — Two groups filed a lawsuit Friday over an executive order by West Virginia Republican Gov. Patrick Morrisey granting religious exemptions from required school vaccinations. The American Civil Liberties Union's West Virginia chapter and Mountain State Justice filed the lawsuit against the state Department of Health, its Bureau for Public Health and agency leaders on behalf of two parents in Kanawha County Circuit Court.
Associated Press
23-05-2025
- Health
- Associated Press
Groups sue over West Virginia governor's order on religious exemptions for school vaccines
CHARLESTON, (AP) — Two groups filed a lawsuit Friday over an executive order by West Virginia Republican Gov. Patrick Morrisey granting religious exemptions from required school vaccinations. The American Civil Liberties Union's West Virginia chapter and Mountain State Justice filed the lawsuit against the state Department of Health, its Bureau for Public Health and agency leaders on behalf of two parents in Kanawha County Circuit Court. The vaccine exemption was among several executive orders issued by Morrisey on his first full day in office in January. 'Governors do not rule by decree,' ACLU-West Virginia legal director Aubrey Sparks said in a statement. 'At the center of this lawsuit is who gets to make these decisions for our students. On this question, the state Constitution is clear that the authority lies with the Legislature, not the governor.' The governor's office and the Department of Health did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment Friday on the lawsuit. Morrisey's order upended a school vaccination policy long heralded by medical experts as one of the most protective in the country for kids. State law requires children to receive vaccines for chickenpox, hepatitis B, measles, meningitis, mumps, diphtheria, polio, rubella, tetanus and whooping cough before starting school. The state does not require COVID-19 vaccinations. Legislation that would have allowed religious exemptions to vaccination requirements, among other things, was passed by the state Senate and rejected by the House of Delegates earlier this year. State schools Superintendent Michelle Blatt issued a memorandum to all 55 county superintendents May 2 recommending that students not be allowed to attend school in the 2025-26 without required immunizations. But that same day, Blatt rescinded the memo at Morrisey's request, according to the lawsuit. Morrisey later issued a statement saying he had no intention of rescinding the executive order. He said parents can apply for a religious exemption from vaccinations through the Bureau for Public Health. Last year, Republican then-Gov. Jim Justice vetoed a less sweeping vaccination bill passed by the Republican-supermajority Legislature that would have exempted private school and some nontraditional public school students from vaccination requirements. Morrisey, who served as West Virginia's attorney general from 2013 until he was sworn in as governor, said he believes religious exemptions to vaccinations should already be permitted under a 2023 law passed by the state Legislature called the Equal Protection for Religion Act. The law stipulates that the government can't 'substantially burden' someone's constitutional right to freedom of religion unless it can prove there is a 'compelling interest' to restrict that right. Morrisey has said that law hasn't 'been fully and properly enforced' since it passed. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Dr. Joshua Hess of Cabell County and Marisa Jackson of Kanawha County. It said Hess has a child who is immunocompromised and that Jackson has a child who, because of decreased community use of immunizations, is more susceptible to illness. Along with Mississippi, West Virginia is the U.S. state with the worst health outcomes and lowest life expectancy rates. 'Parents should be able to know their child will be safe when they send them off to school,' said Mountain State Justice executive director Sarah Brown. 'We are seeing the devastating effects of loosening vaccine requirements across the country, and that's why the Legislature wisely declined to loosen the restrictions here in West Virginia. It's vital that their decision not be undermined by the executive branch.'
