9th Circuit Judges ‘Shocked’ and ‘Floored’ by LAUSD’s Ongoing Covid-19 Vaccine Mandate for Employees
Health Freedom Defense Fund v. LAUSD Covid Vaccine Mandate, Oral Argument in 9th Circuit
By Katy Grimes, September 16, 2023 9:37 am
In April, the Globe reported that the Los Angeles Unified School District was facing a lawsuit over its COVID vaccine mandate as some district employees were still on unpaid leave status for refusing to take the shot or booster.
In May, the Globe learned that LAUSD was still firing experienced teachers over the COVID vaccine mandate, while simultaneously advertising that they are hiring teachers, and offering $5,000 bonuses to new, right out of college, non-credentialed teachers.
The Globe spoke with Leslie Manookian, Founder of the Health Freedom Defence Fund (more than 20 years ago), who filed suit against the LAUSD in 2021 following LAUSD terminating 1,000 teachers and staff, for declining to take the COVID vaccines.
LAUSD first tried to mandate the COVID vaccine when the shot was introduced, Manookian said. “We sued in 2021, and they rescinded the mandate the next day.” However, that was not the end of it.
“In July 2021, as the case was working its way through the system, LAUSD represented to our attorney and in a brief filed with the court, that there ‘is no mandate’ and that LAUSD had no intention of issuing a mandate. The court accepted this representation in dismissing the case as not ‘ripe’ on July 27, 2021. Thus, if there is no mandate, the lawsuit is not ripe.”
“Seventeen days later LAUSD issued a COVID vaccine mandate,” Manookian said.
So they filed suit again. Manookian said the lawsuit filed by HFDF, on behalf of California Educators for Medical Freedom (CAEMF), and individual plaintiffs challenged the Los Angeles Unified School District’s COVID-19 injection mandate for all teachers and staff as a condition of employment because it violates the employees’ liberty protected by the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which includes rights of personal autonomy, self-determination, bodily integrity, and the right to reject medical treatment.
“We discovered that LAUSD had not been forthright with the District Court during the first case when it claimed there ‘is no mandate.’”
“According to depositions taken during the course of the second case, LAUSD Chief Human Resource Officer Ileana Davalos stated that ‘they were drafting a mandate in the first half of July 2021,’ demonstrating that LAUSD had not been telling the truth about the mandates with the court in the first case.”
Manookian said the mandate was a violation of privacy under the due process clause of the Constitution, and it was also “arbitrary” because the CDC had already admitted that the shots do not stop transmission of COVID-19. “So it’s a medicine or a theraputic, and not a vaccine,” she said.
Teachers lost their jobs for refusing the experimental vaccine, and some were relegated to online teaching and left in limbo, Manookian said. Teachers were told their religious beliefs didn’t matter, or their medical needs didn’t matter. “Some have had adverse reactions to other shots. They’ve been denied the the ability to protect themselves and their religious beliefs. They’ve been fired for doing so, or were just cast aside.”
Manookian said there is decades of law to support the lawsuit and enforce it. And because the CDC admitted that the shots are not a vaccine but a therapeutic, everyone has a right to refuse. Yet many LAUSD teachers and staff succumbed and got the shot just to stay employed.
Manookian just sent out an update to the oral argument in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals (below), “And I have to say I’m pretty darned excited about how it went,” she said. Manookian reported that the judges were “shocked” and “floored” by LAUSD’s ongoing Covid-19 vaccine mandate for its employees as well as by LAUSD’s “irrational” justification for the policy.
Manookian told the Globe that after the Court had adjourned and their attorney and LAUSD’s attorney, Connie Michaels, were walking through the gate from the argument lectern to the gallery, Michaels turned and bitterly spat “what are you going to do when the board rescinds the policy!” She knew the hearing had gone terribly for them.
Manookian continued: She (Atty Michaels) misled the court, and ridiculously claimed there is a smallpox vaccine mandate. She knew the hearing had gone terribly for them so now LAUSD will likely try to rescind the mandate so that they can then argue the case is moot to avoid depositions, discovery, and a trial.
Notably, Manookian said neither LAUSD nor it’s attorneys give a darn about their employees, their rights, whether the injections work, or the Constitution, they just want power – to do virtually anything.
It’s unfortunate that it takes a legal case like this one to protect and uphold constitutional rights. This is precedence setting, and hopefully will send a loud message to the unethical Marxists in LAUSD and other school districts and government agencies that constitutional rights matter, even in a pandemic.
Here is Leslie Manookian’s update, and first reactions to the oral argument:
HFDF Statement re: Oral Argument in 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in Health Freedom Defense Fund et al v. Alberto Carvalho
Oral argument in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Health Freedom Defense Fund et al. v. Alberto Carvalho yesterday was nothing short of jaw-dropping.
The plaintiffs, Health Freedom Defense Fund (HFDF), California Educators for Medical Freedom (CAEMF), and several individuals, are appealing the district court’s dismissal of their lawsuit against the Los Angeles Unified School District’s (LAUSD) Covid-19 vaccine mandate.
One of the three judges admitted he was “shocked” and “floored” by LAUSD’s ongoing Covid-19 vaccine mandate for its employees as well as by LAUSD’s “irrational” justification for the policy.
Another judge expressed his concern over the breadth of the district court’s decision and declared that the district court’s rationale was clearly wrong.
When LAUSD’s counsel, Connie Michaels, addressed the panel, the judges peppered her with questions, such as: Does it matter whether the shot stops transmission? If the shots don’t stop transmission, what’s the argument for them? Is there any law anywhere that qualifies Jacobson? [Jacobson is a lawsuit brought to the US Supreme Court in 1905, which will be explained in further detail below.] What is the rational basis for saying that a vaccine mandated three years ago continues to work today? What if LAUSD is still requiring the shot twenty years from now, when there is no emergency? How did the school district come up with the premise that it doesn’t matter whether the shot is effective or not?
Michaels argued rather lamely that the courts have to give the state the right to decide. She further argued that unless it has been established that the injection does not work, LAUSD has the right to mandate it. HFDF notes that that fact has been quite clearly proven not only in the scientific literature, but in the real world.
After hearing the arguments on both sides, HFDF president Leslie Manookian observed, “It seems to us that Connie Michaels and LAUSD got it backwards. HFDF asserts the right to bodily autonomy for any and all medical treatments. Surely, then, the state must prove that a vaccine works if it seeks to justify mandating its use. Otherwise, where is the limit on state power?”
One limit to state power is the judges’ assertion that Jacobson’s whole rationale was that a vaccine must have a public health benefit. Another point they made is that any justification LAUSD may have had for a vaccine mandate would have waned by now.
At issue for the plaintiffs is whether LAUSD violated their fundamental right to privacy under the substantive component of the Due Process Clause of the US Constitution. Further, the plaintiffs assert that the vaccine mandate is arbitrary, since it classifies people based on vaccination status in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of 14th Amendment.
The plaintiffs contend that LAUSD acted arbitrarily when it fired hundreds of employees and displaced hundreds more who had requested exemptions to the mandate. Moreover, the terminations took place even though it was already known that the injections prevented neither transmission nor infection. Thus, the plaintiffs contend, the injections amounted to nothing more than a therapeutic, lacking any public health justification, and as such are a private matter.
While LAUSD and others have used the aforementioned US Supreme Court’s (SCOTUS) Jacobson v. Massachusetts case from 1905 to justify vaccine mandates, Jacobson has been wildly misconstrued to justify authoritarian overreach. In Jacobson, SCOTUS held that in extreme circumstances, such as a smallpox outbreak with a death rate of 30–40%, a jurisdiction might mandate a safe and effective vaccine or allow a fine to be paid by those who declined the vaccine. Jacobson did not say that the state could plunge a needle into the arm of someone who objected to being vaccinated or could condition employment on submitting to a vaccine.
The Ninth Circuit Court judges clearly understood this important fact.
They also appeared to understand that Covid-19 is not smallpox and that the Covid injections are neither safe nor effective.
Moreover, case law since World War II has solidified a number of human rights, including the right to bodily autonomy, the right to refuse unwanted medical treatment, and the right to refuse life-extending and life-saving medical interventions, as well as the notion of a zone of privacy around each American into which the state may not intrude.
Due to the conflict between the recent case law just noted and Jacobson—the latter made in an era when women could not vote and Jim Crow laws existed and SCOTUS had sanctioned the sterilization of a woman deemed too unintelligent to bear children—the rights of Americans today are suspended in limbo.
This conflict must be reconciled. Yet the district court declined to do so. Instead, it wrote, “Without further guidance from the Ninth Circuit, the Court declines to adopt case law applying strict scrutiny in cases of forced medical treatment to the Covid-19 vaccine context.”
This is the very reason we appealed. It is high time for the Ninth Circuit, which has led the way in bodily autonomy jurisprudence, to allow the case to proceed so that the plaintiffs may prove their case—namely, that the Covid injections are nothing more than a therapeutic, that natural immunity is superior, that Jacobson does not apply, and that recent case law regarding bodily autonomy overrides the outdated Jacobson.
In the pleadings, the plaintiffs also argued that the district court erred in failing to accept all the facts that the plaintiffs alleged as true and in failing to draw all reasonable references in their favor, as is required when considering a motion for judgement on the pleadings.
The district court should also have considered whether there was any possibility that the plaintiffs would prevail. That answer is yes, but the court ignored that fact.
The Ninth Circuit has the power to not only right these wrongs but to advance the constitutionally protected cause of freedom by affirming the appeal and sending the case back to district court for a proper adjudication of the facts.
Over the decades, when constitutional amendments have been challenged, the Supreme Court has made clear that no right is held more sacred than that of bodily autonomy. It is time to put Jacobson in its place in history by clarifying and cementing recent case law in service to all Americans.
Following all of these cases as mine is set for trial in 2025. Thank Katy.
This is wonderful stuff! —- especially heartening considering the situation on the face of it appeared to be David vs. A Very Nasty Goliath; Goliath being the insane but huge and powerful LAUSD — although lately hemorrhaging students —- and big commie org UTLA, led by screaming banshee Cecily Myart-Cruz. Congratulations to HFDF’s founder Leslie Manookian and their attorney for prevailing here. I’m confident that many many MANY share her excitement about this decision. YES.
SO MUCH of this story is delicious: The peppering of questions by HFDF’s attorney onto LAUSD’s attorney, LAUSD’s attorney’s mini-tantrum after the hearing, the 9th Circuit’s apprehension of the issue and solid common sense in their ruling, the precedent-setting nature of the ruling, etc. And it sounds as though there is an excellent chance that as this proceeds to the higher court the decision will become an even more important one for the nation, finally setting the record straight in this vital matter that has injured and caused needless uncertainty for so many.
It is still extremely dismaying, however, that LAUSD’s bad faith and the resulting delays meant even MORE collateral damage and fallout than there would have otherwise been, with teachers having to be vaccinated unwillingly, teachers who righteously refused the vaxx unemployed or in limbo, etc. But there are many millions of such casualties in our country, aren’t there, that have resulted from the “Covid” sadistic dictatorial power-play mentality. It is a relief to see the beginnings of this unnecessary disaster being righted.
Thus it is extremely gratifying to see this outcome. Thanks (again) to Katy Grimes for bringing it to our attention.
*Should have clarified it was not only teachers affected by the vaxx jackboot but also other staff and employees.
LAUSD can’t endure the possibility of instilling buyers remorse among the rank and file: UTLA’s demonstrated success securing pay and benefit enhancements has to strike fear of their potential wrath should teachers and others conclude in mass they’ve been poisoned and duped.
“Oh were so sorry we screwed up regarding the vax mandate” but have no fear as your generous medical insurance benefits package will cover the expenses to treat the potentially terminal illness we forced upon you.
The UTLA already working on the demand package the result of the vax mandate; you can count on it. Pay and benefits UTLA’s primary charter; The children and the taxpayers are a means to an end.
The only way this collective madness will end is if the courts rule that the LAUSD must reinstate teachers they wrongly fired, reimburse them for wages lost and require the LAUSD pay massive pain and suffering monetary restitution to the victims of their horrible policy.
All that’s “learned” is make your *enemies* litigate themselves into bankruptcy while you keep taking away the ball before they can punt, while reinforcing “the process IS the punishment”
The judges will all laugh it all the way to the bank and uphold the mandate. They’re all eugenicists anyway – out there to use death shots to gradually cull the surplus population.
The City of Los Angeles still has Ordinance 187134 on the books – vaccine mandate for all employees.
I place the blame for this whole mess on the laps of the FDA and CDC for shoving a one size fits all vaccine narrative not supported by Evidence Based Medicine down the throats of the American Public. They used fear not rational critical scientific thinking. Medical information constantly changes and is updated, what we did yesterday for a disease might not be what we do for it tomorrow. You don’t double down on things which have been shown to be ineffective for a wide swath of your citizens, but that is exactly what this administration and its health department minions did. Who ever was the LAUSD medical advisor was, he failed miserably in keeping the school board up to date with how Covid was evolving, how boosters for most healthy adults were essentially useless and remain useless to this day despite CDC still encouraging people to get them (only data done on a couple of white mice). Biden’s handling of Covid 19 vaccine and mandates will go down as the biggest medical SNAFU in recorded history.
They will fight their absurd position because of all the liability looming ahead,I suppose.
I’m so glad these three judges were so very perceptive, in seeing the truth and the ridiculous rationale for LAUSDs mandate rules. Amen, so glad!