Appeals Court Dismisses Lawsuit Against Los Angeles COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate

The mandate is protected because officials could have concluded they would protect the health and safety of workers and students, the majority said.

A healthcare worker fills a syringe with a COVID-19 vaccine in Los Angeles in a file image. Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images

A federal appeals court on July 31 dismissed a lawsuit against the COVID-19 vaccine mandate imposed by the second-largest school district in the United States.

The mandate, put into place in 2021 by the Los Angeles Unified School District and rescinded in 2023, was constitutional because officials “could have reasonably concluded that COVID-19 vaccines would protect the health and safety of its employees and students,” U.S. Circuit Judge Mark J. Bennett wrote for the majority of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.