Judge Issues Tentative Ruling to Strike Down San Diego COVID-19 Jab Mandate to Attend School

San Diego Superior Court Judge John Meyer stated in a ruling that school districts do not have the authority to mandate COVID-19 jabs for attendance.

Meyer clarified that the state legislature holds the authority to mandate a vaccine for school attendance.

Parents within the San Diego Unified School District won’t have to worry about forcing an experimental injection on children to receive an education.

Let Them Breathe and Let Them Choose, pro-choice groups who sued the school district, argued that the mandate violated students’ right to an in-person education.

The final ruling is a major victory for California schoolchildren since its basis applies statewide.

BREAKING: "…proud to report Covid-19 V mandate to attend school in San Diego, CA officially struck down. Basis for ruling applies statewide. Today liberty prevailed. Congrats Cali and thanks to @icandecide for making the lawsuit possible." -ICAN Attorney, @AaronSiriSG https://t.co/RInZUoGowZ

— The HighWire (@HighWireTalk) December 20, 2021

"A judge ruled against the San Diego Unified School District‘s COVID-19 vaccination mandate Monday, saying that the district’s mandate conflicts with state law." https://t.co/IdLzjBH3Ef

— AssocAmerPhys&Surg (@AAPSonline) December 20, 2021

Just had oral argument with the court and proud to report Covid-19 V mandate to attend school in San Diego, CA officially struck down. Basis for ruling applies statewide. Today liberty prevailed. Congrats Cali and thanks to @icandecide for making the lawsuit possible.

— Aaron Siri (@AaronSiriSG) December 20, 2021

Let Them Breathe + Let Them Choose won in court against San Diego Unified’s Student Covid Vaccine Mandate.

Judge struck down vaccine mandate as inconsistent with State law. Due to our ruling SDUSD can’t enforce vaccine mandate and all students can continue in-person education.

— LET THEM BREATHE (@letthem_breathe) December 20, 2021

The San Diego Union Tribune wrote:

The Legislature has written laws to mandate 10 vaccines for school attendance, ranging from smallpox to tuberculosis. The Legislature gave authority to the state public health department to mandate additional vaccines such as the COVID-19 vaccine, and the legislature said such new vaccine requirements must allow for personal belief exemptions, Meyer wrote in a ruling issued Monday.

The Legislature did not give such authority to school districts, Meyer wrote.

“The statutory scheme leaves no room for each of the over 1,000 individual school districts to impose a patchwork of additional vaccine mandates, including those like the (San Diego Unified vaccine) Roadmap that lack a personal belief exemption and therefore are even stricter than what the (state health department) could itself impose upon learned consideration,” Meyer wrote.

Meyer’s tentative ruling is a win for Let Them Choose, an offshoot of the pro-choice and anti-mask parent group Let Them Breathe that sued San Diego Unified in October to strike down the district’s vaccine mandate.

ICAN (Informed Consent Action Network) funded the lawsuit and helped make the victory for San Diego schoolchildren possible.

ICAN released this statement:

An ICAN-funded lawsuit has struck down the Covid-19 vaccine mandate to attend school in San Diego, California!  This is the first COVID-19 vaccine requirement in the country to be struck down in a final ruling.

ICAN’s lead attorney, Aaron Siri, and his team filed a lawsuit funded by ICAN on behalf of a parent whose child was going to be mandated to receive the Covid-19 vaccine to continue school.  That ICAN lawsuit, S.V. on behalf of J.D. vs San Diego Unified School District, was consolidated with a lawsuit filed by Let Them Choose.  Both plaintiffs moved for a final decision from the Court asking it to find that the Covid-19 vaccine mandate for students was illegal and the Judge, this morning, ruled it was illegal!  Copy of tentative decision can be read here.  The final will be released as soon as possible.

The basis for this decision, that school boards in California do not have the authority to require a Covid-19 vaccine, would apply to all school boards across California that are seeking to mandate a Covid-19 vaccine.  ICAN intends to fund lawsuits against any other school board in California that seeks to mandate a Covid-19 vaccine.

Congratulations to all the parents in San Diego, California and beyond who no longer need to inject their children with a liability-free, novel medical product in order to attend school.   And thank you for your support in making this work possible!  Without you, ICAN’s critical work would not be possible.