Indiana University students ask Supreme Court to block vaccine mandate

A group of Indiana University students filed an appeal Friday with the Supreme Court challenging the school’s coronavirus vaccine mandate.

Eight students called for the high court to take up the case following an appeals court ruling this week that backed the university’s decision to require all students returning to campus to get vaccinated or wear masks, except in cases where a student may have a medical condition or a religious reason, USA Today reported.

The students reportedly argued in their appeal that the mandate by Indiana University (IU) is an infringement on their 14th Amendment rights.

“All students are adults, are entitled to make their own medical treatment decisions, and have a constitutional right to bodily integrity, autonomy, and of medical treatment choice in the context of a vaccination mandate,” the students said, according to USA Today. “IU, however, is treating its students as children who cannot be trusted to make mature decisions.”

The Supreme Court, with its 6-3 conservative majority, has struck down several coronavirus measures, at one point siding with religious groups objecting to capacity limits in churches.

In the federal appeals court decision for IU, the court cited a 1905 Supreme Court case in which the court ruled in favor of Massachusetts implementing penalties against people who refused to get vaccinated against smallpox.

“A court of appeals must apply the law established by the Supreme Court,” three judges nominated by Republican presidents wrote in Monday’s ruling.