Seventh Circuit Declines to Impose Injunction on IU Vaccine Mandate

By Megan E. Cain, Tuohy Bailey & Moore LLP

Indiana University’s requirement that all students must be vaccinated against COVID-19 unless they are exempt for religious or medical reasons will stand—for now. 

In June, eight Indiana University (IU) students filed a lawsuit seeking a preliminary injunction against IU after the university mandated that all students receive the COVID-19 vaccine prior to the start of the 2021-2022 school year. As part of the lawsuit, the students allege that the vaccine mandate violates their 14th Amendment rights.

On July 18, 2021, Judge Damon Leicht of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana denied the students’ preliminary injunction finding that the school has a legitimate interest in furthering the public health of their students by mandating the vaccine. The students appealed to the Seventh Circuit.

On August 2, 2021, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s decision by comparing the case to Jacobson v. Massachusetts, 197 U.S. 11 (1905), which holds that a state may require all members of the public to be vaccinated against smallpox, [so] there can’t be a constitutional problem with vaccination against [COVID-19].”

A lawyer for the students said he would ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review the rulings, which legal experts say are the first from federal courts regarding college immunization mandates. Similar lawsuits against student vaccine requirements at the University of Connecticut and the California State University system are awaiting action.

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