Are Vaccine Mandates Constitutional?

We the People

National Constitution Center

News, News Commentary, History

4.6 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 5 August 2021

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

As students return to school, hundreds of colleges and universities are requiring those returning to campus to get coronavirus vaccines. Recently, a federal appeals court declined to grant an injunction against Indiana University’s vaccine mandate after it was challenged in a lawsuit by students who say it violates their constitutional rights. On this week’s episode, we discuss the Indiana case as well as the constitutionality of vaccination mandates issued or being considered by different institutions including schools; discuss whether states or the federal government may also have the power to issue vaccine mandates; and explain how Supreme Court cases, including those from over a century ago, might impact this question. Wendy K. Mariner, professor at the Boston University Schools of Public Health, Law, and Medicine, and Josh Blackman, constitutional law professor at the South Texas College of Law Houston, join host Jeffrey Rosen. Additional resources and transcript available at constitutioncenter.org/constitution. Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	I'm Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, and welcome
0:07.7	to We The People, a weekly show of constitutional debate.
0:11.4	The National Constitution Center is a nonpartisan nonprofit chartered by Congress
0:16.5	to increase awareness and understanding of the Constitution among the American people.
0:21.9	It's back to school time and more than 500 institutions have started requiring coronavirus vaccines.
0:29.4	Indiana University's vaccine mandate was recently upheld by a federal appeals court and just a few days ago a law professor sued George Mason University for requiring
0:40.3	unvaccinated faculty and staff to wear masks and undergo frequent testing.
0:45.8	On today's episode, we will explore the question, are vaccine mandates constitutional?
0:51.4	I'm joined by two of America's leading experts on this
0:54.2	question and on the US Supreme Court case that is at the heart of the legal
0:59.0	arguments which is called Jacobson versus Massachusetts. Josh Blackman is a constitutional law professor
1:04.7	at the South Texas College of Law, Houston,
1:07.6	an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute
1:10.2	and president of the Harlan Institute. He's blogged on vaccine mandates at the Valick Conspiracy
1:15.6	and is the author of the forthcoming article,
1:17.8	The Irrepressible Myth of Jacobson.
1:20.6	Josh, it is wonderful to have you back on the show.
1:23.0	Good to be back, Jeff.
1:24.0	And Wendy K Mariner is the Edward R. Utley Emeritus,
1:28.0	Professor of Health Law at Boston University School of Public Health
1:31.0	and holds professorships in the School of Law and the School of Medicine.
1:35.4	She is the co-author of many works on Public Health and Constitutional Rights, including
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from National Constitution Center, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of National Constitution Center and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.