University’s COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate Violates US Constitution: Court

Officials automatically rejected applications from people with certain religious beliefs.

A COVID-19 vaccine is prepared in Colorado, in a file image. Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images

A Colorado university’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate violates the U.S. Constitution, a federal court has ruled.

The mandate, first handed down on Sept. 1, 2021, “clearly violates the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause as interpreted by our precedents,” a majority of a U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit said in the May 7 decision.