The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed two Covid-related appeals from Children's Health Defense, the anti-vaccine group founded by independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The judges' decision not to listen to the cases leaves lower court rulings against the group in place.
One case challenged the Food and Drug Administration's emergency authorization of Covid-19 vaccines in December 2020, while the opposite case was brought against Rutgers University in New Jersey over its Covid-19 vaccination requirement.
In the FDA case, the group claimed in court documents that the Covid vaccines were “ineffective and not properly tested.” The New Orleans-based fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that Kennedy's group didn’t have standing to sue.
In the Rutgers dispute, the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Philadelphia, concluded that the plaintiffs “had not made a plausible claim for compensation.”
Kennedy himself left the group he founded in April 2023 to run for president. He did not win the Democratic primaries and is now running as an independent.
During the election campaign, he largely downplayed his anti-vaccination activities, but in November He spoke at a Children's Health Defense conference.
Despite his leave of absence from the group, Kennedy is listed as an attorney in Rutgers University's Supreme Court filing.
In one other vaccine-related case, the court also dismissed a challenge to the state of Connecticut's decision to repeal a non secular exemption for varsity vaccinations.
image credit : www.cnbc.com