The chambers of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals
CHARLESTON – The West Virginia Board of Education is asking the state Supreme Court to stop lower court proceedings in cases regarding religious exemptions to school vaccination policies.
The board filed a motion to stay August 26 with the Supreme Court a day after Raleigh Circuit Court Judge Michael Froble declined the stay and told the board it could appeal to the Supreme Court.
The board says Froble’s “breakneck” schedule for the case puts a damper on discovery.
“The schedule the Circuit Court has entered is so truncated it sacrifices the Petitioners’ ability to litigate the issues presented in this matter on their merits, as supported by discovery,” the board motion states while also noting the Supreme Court simply could resolve the underlying issues. “If the Vaccine Law is to be reviewed under strict scrutiny, that scrutiny should be conducted only after fulsome discovery and case development, not at breakneck speed without any meaningful opportunity to develop the case.”
On August 25, Froble did agree with a request from state Attorney General J.B. McCuskey’s office to consolidate the Raleigh County case with a similar one filed in Kanawha County. Froble also said the scheduled hearing for September 10 and 11 will happen.
West Virginia previously has been one of only five states that do not allow religious exemptions for vaccines, but Gov. Patrick Morrisey issued an executive order in January requiring the state to accept such exemptions. The state Legislature voted down a bill this spring that would have written the religious exemption into state law, and the state Board of Education continues to tell county school boards to accept only medical exemptions as previously done.
In the Kanawha County case, the American Civil Liberties Union-West Virginia and Mountain State Justice sued the West Virginia Department of Health, West Virginia Bureau for Public Health, interim Commissioner for Public Health Justin Davis and Department of Health Secretary Arvin Sing on behalf of Marisa Jackson, a Kanawha County parent of a child particularly susceptible to illness, and Dr. Joshua A. Hess, a Cabell County parent of an immunocompromised child.
In the Raleigh County case, Miranda Guzman and two other families sued the state board after it told county schools to ignore Morrisey’s executive order. Morrisey held a press conference in June with the attorney who filed the case, saying his administration supports the case to defend the religious liberty of West Virginia families. The administration also filed an amicus brief in the Raleigh County case, citing the state’s 2023 Equal Protection for Religion Act.
