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Attorneys for the West Virginia Board of Education are asking the state Supreme Court to overturn a ruling that opened the door to religious and philosophical exemptions from school vaccine requirements, West Virginia Watch reported.
Gov. Patrick Morrisey said in a statement to The Defender that he was “disappointed” the board chose to challenge the decision “rather than stand up for the religious freedoms of our students and families.”
In a brief filed Thursday with the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, attorneys argued the lower court didn’t just misinterpret the state’s law, but rewrote it.
“The Vaccine Law works,” attorneys wrote, pointing to the state’s high immunization rates and low levels of vaccine-preventable disease. “The Legislature has repeatedly considered adding religious exemptions to the Vaccine Law. It hasn’t.”
Attorneys framed the case around real-world consequences. They cited recent measles outbreaks in multiple states and warned that loosening West Virginia’s long-standing vaccine rules could invite similar problems.
“A disease once deemed eliminated in the United States has reawakened,” they wrote. While they acknowledged that measles hasn’t taken hold in West Virginia, “this case threatens to change that,” they said.
Governor calls for ‘clear, permanent protections for families’
The appeal stems from a November 2025 ruling by a Raleigh County circuit judge who said the state’s refusal to allow religious exemptions violates West Virginia’s Equal Protection for Religion Act (EPRA) of 2023.
The ruling meant schools could no longer enforce policies that bar unvaccinated children from attending classes or activities.
However, the state Supreme Court put that decision on hold in December 2025 and agreed to fast-track its review at the Board of Education’s request.
Morrisey said children should not be kept out of school over vaccine objections.
“Students will not be denied access to public education because of their religious objections to compulsory vaccination,” he said.
Morrisey also called on state and local education officials to work with public health leaders to ensure those rights are respected while the case moves forward. He urged lawmakers to pass “clear, permanent protections for families across West Virginia.”
Religious freedom ‘does not include liberty to expose the community’ to disease
In their new filing, Board of Education attorneys argued the judge got the law and the facts wrong.
“The Circuit Court rewrote the Vaccine Law and added the religious exemptions the Legislature rejected,” the attorneys wrote. “The Circuit Court erred by expanding EPRA.”
State law allows only one exception — a medical exemption — and anything beyond that crosses a line, they wrote.
They also pushed back on how the lower court interpreted the religious freedom law. EPRA does not override every other statute — it applies only when there’s a direct conflict, they said. “The Vaccine Law does not conflict with EPRA, thus it is unaffected.”
The 51-page brief repeatedly returns to a core argument: Vaccine mandates exist to protect the broader public, not just individual families.
Quoting a 1944 U.S. Supreme Court decision, attorneys stressed that religious freedom has limits when public health is at stake. “The right to practice religion freely does not include liberty to expose the community or the child to communicable disease,” they wrote.
They also argued that the lower court misunderstood how public education works. Denying school access based on vaccination status is not withholding a “government benefit,” but enforcing conditions meant to protect all students, they said.
Attorneys target testimony from ‘known anti-vaccination advocate’
The filing also challenges the evidence behind the November ruling.
Attorneys said the judge improperly relied on testimony from “a known anti-vaccination advocate” while discounting mainstream public health experts. That decision skewed the outcome and should be corrected on appeal, they wrote.
They also claimed the circuit court overstepped by turning the case into a statewide class action, and questioned whether it had the authority to do so.
The case is part of a broader clash in West Virginia over vaccine policy.
State law has long required students to be vaccinated against chickenpox, hepatitis B, measles, mumps, diphtheria, polio, rubella, tetanus and pertussis or whooping cough before attending school, allowing exemptions only for medical reasons.
West Virginia is one of a small number of states that do not permit religious exemptions or philosophical opt-outs.
That stance came under pressure in 2025, when Morrisey issued an executive order directing health officials to allow religious exemptions. State education officials pushed back, telling schools to continue following existing laws. That move set up the conflict now before the court.
The current case stems from a lawsuit filed by two Raleigh County families who say their children should be allowed to attend school without meeting vaccine requirements due to religious exemptions.
The case now moves forward on a previously set schedule.
According to West Virginia Watch, under an earlier order from the Supreme Court, the families challenging the law have until May 11 to file their response. The Board of Education has until June 1 to submit a reply.
After that, the court can rule on the filings or schedule oral arguments before issuing a decision.
