Judge Dismisses Kanawha Mother’s Religious Vaccine Exemption Case

A Kanawha County judge has dismissed a case seeking a religious exemption to school vaccine requirements. 

West Virginia Watch reported Friday that Judge Richard Lindsay dismissed the lawsuit against the Kanawha County Board of Education, finding that the state’s vaccination laws satisfy “a compelling state interest” to protect against illnesses.

Corey Palumbo was the lead counsel in the Kanawha County Board of Education’s defense of the case. He said Lindsay ruled that the state’s laws satisfied standards set forth in the Equal Protection for Religion Act, a 2023 law that has often been cited in support of religious vaccine exemptions.

“He ruled that even if the Equal Protection for Religion Act applied to the vaccine law, that the vaccine law would meet the strict scrutiny standard, that there was a compelling state interest to protect the health and well-being of the school children in West Virginia, and that policy, the [compulsory vaccine law] is narrowly tailored to support that state interest,” Palumbo said.

Nakesha Watson filed suit in September on behalf of her child. The child received an exemption to school-required vaccinations from the West Virginia Bureau for Public Health but was then rejected by the school district and has not been allowed to attend school due to being unvaccinated.

Gov. Patrick Morrisey has directed families to apply to the bureau for exemptions, but in June the West Virginia Board of Education directed school districts to uphold state law and not accept such exemptions.

“They are statutorily required to follow the policy of the state board of education, and the state board of education has maintained a policy of enforcing the compulsory vaccine law as it’s written,” Palumbo said. “And the compulsory vaccine law as it’s written provides for a medical exemption to the vaccine requirement, but it does not provide for a religious, philosophical or conscientious exemption.”

According to Watch reporter Lori Kersey, Watson was representing herself in the case, but failed to appear at two hearings this week.

The Kanawha County case is one of several being heard across West Virginia on the issue of vaccine exemptions, spurred on by Morrisey’s January executive order. The dismissal comes just one week after a judge certified statewide class action status in one Raleigh County vaccine exemption suit.

Palumbo also relayed that the judge ruled Friday that the executive order does not have the power of law.

“The judge ruled today the governor, through his executive order, is not empowered to make a law, and I think that’s just consistent with general principles of separation of power,” he said. “The legislature makes the laws, the executive branch administers the laws, and the courts, the judiciary interprets the laws, and I think that’s what the judge found today.”