Public Health Authority Case Updates for April, May, and June 2023
April, 2023
Monday, April 3: A federal judge in Texas blocked HHS’s rule requiring Head Start programs to implement COVID-19 vaccine mandates for staff and volunteers.
Monday, April 3: The Supreme Court declined to hear a Mississippi tanning salon’s challenge to a city order closing businesses at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Monday, April 10: The Ninth Circuit heard oral arguments in a case surrounding Seattle's COVID-19 eviction moratorium.
Tuesday, April 11: The San Diego City Council agreed to pay out $110,000 to settle two lawsuits challenging the city's COVID-19 vaccine mandate for city employees.
Wednesday, April 12: The Fourth Circuit ruled that excluding unvaccinated people from a Virginia jury did not violate the Sixth Amendment.
Tuesday, April 25: The Arizona Legislature filed an emergency petition to the Supreme Court, challenging the Ninth Circuit's decision that the federal contractor COVID-19 vaccine mandate was within President Biden's authority.
Thursday, April 27: The Buffalo City School District settled with the parents of a 6th grader over the district's mask mandate for an undisclosed amount.
Thursday, April 27: The Washington Supreme Court ruled that school board members could be subject to recall after disregarding the statewide mask mandate by voting to make masks optional in Richland schools.
May, 2023
Tuesday, May 9: The California Supreme Court heard oral arguments over whether a woodworking company could be held liable for negligence by an employee's wife who says she became seriously ill when her husband contracted COVID-19 at work and passed it to her.
Thursday, May 11: Former Washington State University football coach Nick Rolovich asked a federal judge to allow his case against the university to continue after he was fired for refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
Thursday, May 11: A federal court in Illinois ruled that a man who withdrew from a cardiac sonography program after his request for a religious exemption from a COVID-19 vaccine requirement was denied has standing to sue for violation of his right to religious freedom.
Thursday, May 11: Kansas Governor Laura Kelly blocked a proposed legal settlement with a Wichita gym over COVID-19 business closures.
Monday, May 15: A 9th Circuit panel reinstated a lawsuit challenging San Francisco's COVID-19 vaccine mandate for employees.
Tuesday, May 16: The 2nd Circuit dismissed a New York City Police Department detective's challenge to the city's COVID-19 vaccine mandate as moot.
Tuesday, May 16: A federal court in South Carolina dismissed a challenge to the DOD's rescinded COVID-19 vaccine mandate as moot. (Clements v. Austin, 2023 WL 3479466)
Tuesday, May 23: The Justice Department asked the Eleventh Circuit to vacate an April 2021 ruling that struck the government's order requiring masks on airplanes and other transportation modes, saying the issue was now moot because the national COVID-19 emergency was now over.
Thursday, May 25: The First Circuit revived claims that Maine's COVID-19 vaccine mandate for healthcare workers is unconstitutional because it lacks a religious exemption, saying it was plausible that Maine had no justification to bar exemptions on religious grounds while allowing them for medical reasons.
Tuesday, May 30: A federal judge in Washington rejected former Washington State University football coach Nick Rolovich's claim that the university discriminated against his religious beliefs when he was fired for refusing to comply with the state's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. Three of his other claims will go to trial, including for breach of contract.
June, 2023
Thursday, June 1: A Georgia federal judge dismissed Republican states' challenge to the Biden administration's COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal contractors, approving a joint stipulation of dismissal filed by Georgia and six other states, the Associated Builders and Contractors Inc. trade group and the U.S. government.
Monday, June 19: North Carolina’s Health and Human Services Secretary filed a reply brief in the North Carolina Supreme Court. Racetrack owners seek money damages due to business closures during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tuesday, June 20: A federal court in New York dismissed a claim by a Westchester Community College employee who sued the college over its COVID-19 vaccine-or-test policy, holding she failed to state a claim for discrimination or retaliation under the ADA. (Newell v. State University of New York Westchester Community College, 2023 WL 4082030)
Wednesday, June 21: A federal court in Missouri allowed much of a lawsuit to go forward in which current and former employees of the St. Louis Public School District claimed its COVID-19 vaccine mandate violated free speech rights.
Thursday, June 22: The 11th Circuit vacated the April 2022 decision that struck the CDC transportation mask mandate, declaring the issue moot as President Biden ended the public health emergency in May.
Monday, June 26: The Ninth Circuit held that the County of Marin's restriction of recreational flights during the COVID-19 pandemic did not violate a seaplane operator's equal protection rights. The court also vacated the preemption order and dismissed the company's request for declaratory relief as moot. (Seaplane Adventures v. County of Marin, 2023 WL 4169608