Still another appellate court has shot down another federal Covid measure, this time a vaccine mandate for federal contractors, notes public interest law professor John Banzhaf, who argues that – with such a string of major court losses – it may be time for the Biden administration to adopt a measure which would withstand legal challenges; a rule requiring airline passengers to be vaccinated.
Banzhaf also notes a new trend, just documented by the Los Angeles Times, of parents losing some of their child custody rights because they refuse to be vaccinated, just as parents lost similar rights – and in a few cases actually lost all custody – under cases he triggered when parents refused to quit smoking.
The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals has just upheld an injunction barring enforcement of a Covid-19 vaccination requirement for employees of federal contractors, rejecting the argument that the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act allows the federal government to require vaccination for some 20% of American workers.
Today, in an unrelated development, the Los Angeles Times reports that “family courts have also started to weigh in on parents being vaccinated against the coronavirus,”
Banzhaf had previously published studies showing that courts are increasingly denying parents their previously established child visitation rights if they refuse to be vaccinated, and in some cases even permitting a child to be vaccinated over parental objections.
The law professor says he helped establish legal precedent for such rulings – including a few where parents lost all custody of their children – in cases involving parents who refused to quit smoking.
As the Lost Angeles Times reports:
“John F. Banzhaf III, professor emeritus of public interest law at George Washington University Law School, argued that there is a strong precedent for courts limiting visitation for unvaccinated parents: child custody cases involving cigarette smokers.
The Times report continues:
“Banzhaf argued there was strong evidence for the risks posed to a child by spending time inside with an unvaccinated parent. In fact, he said, ‘the evidence is far clearer than we used to have with regard to secondhand tobacco smoke” in custody cases.'”
Banzhaf notes that, in light of several other court losses involving federal vaccine requirements, various recent developments, and unfavorable comments likely in tomorrow’s Supreme Court arguments on two other federal vaccine mandates, President Joe Biden’s Covid advisors are considering a rule – similar to the ones already in effect in Canada and France, and far less restrictive than those in several major U.S. cities – which would require airline passengers to have received at least one dose of a Covid vaccine.
