Justin Bullock, FISM News

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At least eight students at Indiana University (IU) have filed an Emergency Application for Writ of Injunction with the US Supreme Court on Friday. The students are claiming that IU’s new policy regarding mandatory COVID-19 vaccines for students this year is unconstitutional because it violates their due process and bodily integrity under the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution. The students submitted the emergency injunction as litigation for the case could take months.

The students have previously been denied an emergency injunction by a Federal District Court as well as the 7th US Circuit Court of Appeals in June and July of this year. Judge Frank Easterbrook wrote in the decision that “people who do not want to get vaccinated may go elsewhere.” However, for some of those who filed the lawsuit it is not that simple, as students, specifically those on the verge of graduation, could be set back years and tens of thousands of dollars if they were forced to transfer.

The Supreme Court is their last shot at receiving immediate relief in the case. The application was submitted to new Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett and requests a response on or before August 13, 2021.

The students’ overall case is the first of its kind, as more and more schools and businesses across the country are mandating vaccinations for students and employees. It is expected that many more cases will be brought to federal courts surrounding this issue, as a large amount of Americans do not believe that vaccines should be mandated. Present jurisprudence mandates that religious and medical exemptions to vaccines must be given, but many Americans are finding that obtaining either one of those exemptions can be quite difficult. Also the fact that the vaccine still is under “emergency use” and has not been given full FDA authorization, makes this vaccination mandate unprecedented. It is for this reason that the students at IU have filed suit.

The IU students wrote in their application for emergency injunction:

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.