WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday rejected two Covid-related appeals brought by Children’s Health Defense, the anti-vaccine group founded by independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The ministers’ decision not to hear the cases leaves lower court rulings against the group in effect.
One case challenged the Food and Drug Administration’s emergency authorization of Covid-19 vaccines in December 2020, while the other was filed against Rutgers University in New Jersey over its Covid-19 vaccine mandate.
In the FDA case, the group alleged in court documents that Covid vaccines were “ineffective and lacked adequate verification.” The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that Kennedy’s group did not have legal standing to sue.
In the Rutgers dispute, the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that the plaintiffs “failed to state any plausible claim for relief.”
Kennedy himself said goodbye to the group he founded in April 2023 to run for president. He failed to advance in the Democratic primary and is now running as an independent.
During the campaign, he mostly downplayed his anti-vaccine activity, but in November he spoke at a Children’s Health Advocacy conference.
Kennedy is listed as counsel in Rutgers’ Supreme Court case despite his leave of absence from the group.
In a separate vaccine case, the court also rejected a challenge to Connecticut’s decision to revoke a religious exemption for school vaccinations.
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