Vaccines are mandated in all U.S. states and territories, but each also offers one or more exemptions. The most commonly exercised and legally complex are religious exemptions, currently offered in 48 states. [2] (Note: Exemption rights may vary dramatically with a declared emergency; this situation is not addressed in this article.)
There’s a lot of information on the Internet and other sources about vaccine exemptions. Unfortunately, much of it is misleading or outright incorrect, often appearing to reflect more what the authors feel the law should be rather than representing a clear understanding of what the law actually is.
Lack of understanding of one’s exemption rights and how to assert them effectively can result in loss of the exemption right. [3]
A complete explanation of the law on vaccine religious exemptions is beyond the scope of a single article, but an introduction to some of the more important and commonly misunderstood aspects follows.
Vaccine Religious Exemption Rights
In the United States, vaccine requirements and exemptions (also called “exceptions” or “waivers”) for state residents are addressed at the state level, as Congress lacks authority under the Constitution to legislate vaccine requirements for state residents. [4] (The federal government does enact vaccine mandates and exemptions for immigrants, the military, and residents of U.S. territories, as these are federal jurisdictions.)
However, religious exemptions, even at the state level, have federal First Amendment [5] protection due to the 14th Amendment’s [6] due process clause. Depending on the specific situation, religious exemption rights may involve state and federal constitutions, statutes, regulations, and legal precedent. Furthermore, rights may vary with geographic location and the widely varying circumstances of each person’s life.
Particular Situations
Codes and constitutions are important starting places, but to determine how the law applies to specific situations and circumstances, we must often look beyond the language of codes and constitutions to legal precedent. Legislatures may enact statutes, but the courts interpret the way they apply to specific situations on a case-by-case basis, one legal dispute at a time.
The U.S. Constitution is interpreted in the same way—by the courts, one legal dispute at a time. Federal courts and appellate state courts may, upon ruling on an actual case, issue a published opinion that serves as legal precedent for future disputes. So, to assess how state and constitutional laws apply to your specific situation, you must first determine whether or not there is any applicable legal precedent.
Needless to say, the totality of court opinions constituting the body of legal precedent for any given area of law, at any given time, can never fully address the potentially infinite variety of hypothetical scenarios that may arise under that area of the law. So, when a new situation arises to which no current legal precedent applies, it may be difficult to determine how the law applies to that new situation.
Furthermore, even when the facts in a precedent case do resemble those of a current situation, if they are distinguishable from it, there may be opposing arguments about how—or even if—the precedent applies, with corresponding uncertainty as to what the law is for the current situation.
Unfortunately, the complexity doesn’t end there. When legal precedent does apply to a current situation, a determination must be made as to whether it is “binding precedent”—precedent that states what the law is presently—or “persuasive precedent,” which provides only guidance for what the law arguably could or should be. [7]
The binding-persuasive distinction is simple enough: Higher court opinions are binding on lower courts in the same jurisdiction, but they are only persuasive precedents for other jurisdictions. This distinction can be critical.
A court can rule contrary to persuasive precedent—against you—if it believes that doing so is the more just outcome in your particular case, but courts seldom overrule binding precedent. So, it can be helpful for those claiming a religious exemption to have binding precedent supporting their rights.
Disclaimer: This document is for educational purposes only and is not intended to constitute legal advice.
References:
1 JAMA. Oct, 11, 2006; 296(14): 1757–63, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17032989
2 See vaccinerights.com/resources.html for links to Web sites with state laws
3 See vaccinerights.com/q&a.html
4 See U.S. Constitution Article I, sections 8 and 9 at law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.articlei.html
5 See the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment at law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.billofrights.html
6 See the U.S. Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment at law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.amendmentxiv.html
7 See FindLaw’s legal dictionary’s definition of ‘precedent’ at dictionary.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/search.pl?s=precedent
Source: selfgrowth.com/articles/an_introduction_to_the_law_on_vaccine_religious_exemptions
Alan Phillips, J.D., is an attorney with considerable knowledge of vaccine exemptions. His Web site is Vaccinerights.com
