TRI In The News

U.S. Supreme Court Declines to Review West Virginia Immunization Case

From The State Journal
Original article available here

The U.S. Supreme Court denied a writ of certiorari Nov. 14, following a civil liberties organization filing to hear a West Virginia case challenging the state's immunization statute.

The Virginia-based Rutherford Institute filed the petition for certiorari in July, urging the nation's highest court to reverse a 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling.

In April 2009, Jennifer Workman filed the suit against the Mingo County Board of Education, Dr. Steven L. Paine, Dwight Dials and the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources.

Workman claimed she decided against immunizing her younger daughter after another child suffered health problems from an earlier vaccination. However, state law does not allow children to be admitted to school unless they have been immunized for diphtheria, polio, rubella, tetanus and whooping cough. However, state law says a child can be exempted from the immunization rule if a physician presents the patient with a permanent medical exemption showing it is not recommended, according to the suit.

Workman received the certificate from a child psychiatrist recommending the child not receive immunizations because of the other child's health condition.

This request was later denied however, and Workman's daughter was asked to leave a preschool program. A local head start program accepted the certificate, but once Workman's daughter completed the program, Mingo County schools refused to admit her, the suit states.

Workman accused school board officials of violating state code by not accepting the psychiatrist's certificate and additionally argued that immunizations are against her religion.

"I sincerely believe that it is wrong to immunize, and that it is a sacrilege," the suit states. "My religious beliefs prohibit me from submitting to any immunizations. The denial of my choice not to immunize (my daughter) based upon the free exercise of my religion violates my constitutional rights protected by the First Amendment."

Workman took her challenge to federal court but was denied relief in a November 2009 ruling. According to court documents, the federal judge determined Workman's claims lacked merit and defendants were entitled to 11th Amendment immunity.

The federal court also ruled that it lacked jurisdiction to hear Workman's claim for relief regarding rejection of the certificate and saw "no indication that state law provided a cause of action for damages."

Workman appealed her case to the 4th Circuit, which affirmed the original decision, stating that the immunization requirements do not infringe on Workman's freedom of religious expression.

"Indeed, the district court appears to have assumed the sincerity of Workman's religious beliefs but ruled that those ‘beliefs do not exempt her from complying with West Virginia's mandatory immunization program,'" the opinion states.

In her 4th Circuit appeal, Workman argued that there was no compelling state interest because vaccinations only were uncommon diseases.

"On the contrary, the state's wish to prevent the spread of communicable diseases clearly constitutes a compelling interest," the opinion states.

The court also agreed with the federal court's ruling regarding the rejection of the certificate.

"Workman does not explain how such purely legal determinations raised any triable issue of fact," the 4th Circuit opinion states. "Accordingly, we hold that the district court did not err in ruling that this issue did not preclude summary judgment."