On Thursday, the state Supreme Court will hear a case involving two families who want to restore the religious exemption for kids’ immunization requirements for schools.
Supporters of the exemption have been fighting back against the law Gov. Ned Lamont signed in 2021 to eliminate it.
While a lower court ruled this case could go forward, the state has appealed to the high court.
“The state, Lamont, is saying that we have sovereign immunity, you know, in other words, the state cannot commit legal wrongs, and is immune from civil or criminal prosecution,” Angela Mattie, a Quinnipiac University professor in the Schools of Business and Medicine, said.
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“The people bringing the suit are saying, no, this is a substantial claim and there had been legislative precedent related to this,” Mattie said.
The families from Orange and Greenwich argue removing the exemption violated their religious and equal protection rights.
Their attorney, Lindy Urso, in a statement told us:
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“We look forward to getting this most important case back on track in the Superior Court.”
The Attorney General’s office wrote:
“Vaccines save lives. We will continue to vigorously defend our state’s strong and necessary public health laws.”
Other legal efforts to restore the exemption have so far failed.
“The state has the ability to institute public health measures when those measures will protect all of us, the public,” Mattie said.
While it’s hard to know exactly when the Supreme Court might rule on this, the professor thinks it might move fairly quickly considering it’s a high-profile case.
