Students from Indiana University asked the Supreme Court to block the college’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate on Friday, the first time the justices have been asked to weigh whether requiring the shot is legal.
The students said they have concerns about the risks associated with the vaccine, underlying medical conditions and natural antibodies.
“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. IU, however, is treating its students as children who cannot be trusted to make mature decisions,” the students’ lawyer wrote in the court filing.
The filing requested that the justices respond by Aug. 13.
Lower courts refused to grant the students’ request to block the vaccine mandate.
Chuck Carney, a spokesman for the school, previously told CNN that the university “remains confident” that the mandate will be upheld since there’s a legitimate public health concern.
The Supreme Court has ruled a state can mandate vaccinations in a case from 1905, Jacobson v. Massachusetts.
