Columbus, OH – On Thursday, The Buckeye Institute filed an amicus brief in Norris v. Stanley, calling on the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case and correct a misreading of Jacobson v. Massachusetts, which lower courts have over-interpreted to allow the government to use its police power to force people to get medical treatments. 

“The government is not the all-knowing purveyor of truth and should not be given deferential treatment when it wants to infringe on individual rights regarding medical treatments,” said David C. Tryon, director of litigation at The Buckeye Institute. “It is time for the court to correct more than a century of misreading Jacobson, and this case presents the court with such an opportunity.”

The 1902 Cambridge, Massachusetts regulation at question in Jacobson v. Massachusetts imposed a $5.00 fine for refusal to get a smallpox vaccination, but the law did not mandate vaccination. However, subsequent courts have over-interpreted Jacobson and used it to force all manner of medical treatments on citizens, including forced sterilization. 

The New Civil Liberties Alliance is arguing Norris v. Stanley.

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UPDATE: On April 15, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court denied cert in Norris v. Stanley.