Michigan State Escapes Covid-19 Vaccination Policy Lawsuit

Michigan State University beat a lawsuit over its Covid-19 vaccination mandate because the requirement is rationally related to legitimate state interests, a federal court in the state said.

The mandate—and its failure to exempt people with natural immunity—is subject to rational basis review, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan said. And it wasn’t irrational for the school to decline to provide the exemption, it said.

The decision dismissing the case is consistent with similar cases throughout the country. Courts “overwhelmingly” have upheld generally applicable college and university Covid vaccination policies, the court said.

That includes two cases in which courts dismissed lawsuits against the University of Massachusetts and the University of California, the court said. Both are on appeal.

Jeanna Norris, an administrative associate and fiscal officer at MSU, alleged the school’s policy violated her substantive due process rights because it lacked an exemption for people who’ve acquired natural immunity due to a prior infection. The policy took away her right to bodily autonomy and to decline medical treatment, Norris said.

But Norris didn’t allege the violation of a fundamental liberty right, the court said. Thus, rational basis scrutiny applied, meaning that she had to “negate all possible rational justifications” for the policy, it said. That’s a difficult burden, it said.

In cases involving college and university vaccine mandates, a school doesn’t have to show its policy is the best way to achieve the goal of ensuring the campus is a healthy environment, the court said. A school only has to show it had a legitimate reason for its actions, it said.

MSU relied on scientific literature and guidance from various federal agencies in implementing its policy, the court said. It wasn’t irrational for the school to do so at the time, it said.

There is now “robust scientific debate” about whether natural immunity is effective, the court said. But that doesn’t mean it was irrational for MSU not to provide an exception to its vaccine mandate, it said in Tuesday’s opinion by Judge Paul L. Maloney.

New Civil Liberties Alliance and Hageman Law represented Norris. Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP and the university general counsel’s office represented the MSU defendants.

The case is Norris v. Stanley, 2022 BL 59149, W.D. Mich., No. 1:21-cv-756, 2/22/22.