Free Republic

A federal court has sided with college athletes seeking a religious exemption from a university’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate, preventing the school from enforcing the mandate against the plaintiffs. A three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit sided with a group of 16 student-athletes at Western Michigan University, upholding a lower court decision finding that the school violated their First Amendment rights by denying their requests for religious exemptions from the requirement that all student-athletes take the coronavirus vaccine. The decision noted that “in some cases, the university denied the student-athlete’s application” for a religious exemption...

Sixteen unvaccinated athletes won another round in their legal battle to play sports, despite Western Michigan University’s mandate that all of its inter-collegiate athletes get the COVID-19 vaccination shot. In a unanimous published decision issued Oct. 7, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati, Ohio, held that the university violated the athletes’ First Amendment rights. All 16 athletes had filed for religious exemptions, which, according to the court, the university “ignored or denied.” The court stated: “The university put plaintiffs to the choice: Get vaccinated, or stop fully participating in intercollegiate sports. By conditioning the privilege...

The U.S. Senate on Wednesday confirmed Columbus attorney Chad Readler to be a judge on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals over objections from Democrats including U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, who portrayed Readler as a right-wing idealogue who has “actively worked to strip Ohioans of their rights.”The Senate voted 52 to 47 to approve Readler’s nomination to fill a vacancy created when Judge Deborah Cook took senior status. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine was the only Republican who opposed Readler. Readler has held several high profile roles in the U.S. Justice Department’s civil division, where he led a...

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) warned Republicans on Friday that voting for Chad Readler, President Trump’s nominee to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, is a vote against protecting with people with pre-existing conditions. Readler, who served until September as assistant attorney general for the civil division at the Department of Justice, filed a brief last year supporting a lawsuit filed by Texas and other states seeking to strike down the Affordable Care Act. “As Mr. Readler is the author of the Trump administration’s decision to side with Republican attorneys general suing to repeal our health care law, Senate...