“My Body, My Choice,” Vaccination Mandates, and Religious Freedom, by Charles J. Russo

On May 15, 2023, the Ninth Circuit, in Keene v. City and County of San Francisco, in a ruling that may signal a return to some semblance of normalcy in the post-COVID-19 world, reversed a federal trial court in California’s denial of a request for injunctive relief by two former employees who were denied religious exemptions from their municipal employer’s vaccine mandate. While Keene is non-precedential and did not address the underlying claims on the merits of the employees’ statutory and ultimately constitutional questions, the Ninth’s Circuit’s order in favor of the two employees is noteworthy (even though the COVID-19 vaccine mandates have expired) because it represents a victory for religious freedom. …

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