Cops’ First Amendment Vaccine Claims Rejected by Appeals Court

The rights of a group of Chicago police officers weren’t violated when the city disciplined them for failing to report their Covid-19 vaccination status, a federal appeals panel ruled Tuesday.

The officers were granted religious exemptions to vaccine requirements, wrote Judge Joshua Kolar of the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, so this isn’t the kind of vaccine-mandate challenge that could “raise serious First Amendment concerns.”

“Plaintiffs’ complaint, rather, is that they were required to input their vaccination status into a database and enter COVID-19 testing results, a claim with no legal merit,” Kolar’s order says.

The officers ...