The state Supreme Court is preparing to review any intersection between West Virginia’s religious freedom law and its mandatory school vaccination law — but not until at least early next year.
Justices issued a scheduling order on Thursday evening, responding to a request for expedited review by lawyers for the state school board. Those lawyers had also asked to stay lower court proceedings.
The justices wrote that “upon consideration and review, the Court is of the opinion to, and does refuse the motion for expedited consideration, and does refuse the motion for stay.”
So that means the Supreme Court does not intend to rocket into a review of the high-profile case over religious exemptions to school vaccinations. And activity that has already begun in Raleigh Circuit Court may continue.
However, the Supreme Court did recognize an appeal over the longer haul and got that ball rolling.
The state school board, which wants a review of what has already happened in the Raleigh County courtroom, has already filed an intent to appeal to the Supreme Court, which has now given a Dec. 12 deadline.
If that deadline is somehow missed, the appeal would be dismissed.
As long as the appeal goes ahead, the lawyers for families seeking religious exemptions to school vaccinations to be recognized have a deadline of Jan. 26, 2026, to file a response with the Supreme Court.
If the lawyers for the state school board want to reply to that, their deadline to do so would be Feb. 16, 2026.
Once the deadline for filing a reply brief has passed, the appeal will be considered ripe for consideration by the Supreme Court.
The case in Raleigh County was filed by parents who are asserting that the school system should honor religious exemptions to vaccination requirements. They have sued the state Board of Education along with the Raleigh County Board of Education.
The plaintiffs in the case sued under West Virginia’s “Equal Protection for Religion Act,” which went into law in 2023. Gov. Patrick Morrisey has expressed support for their lawsuit, and his administration filed a friend of the court brief saying so.
The policy lays out the ability of individuals who believe their religious rights have been violated to seek a claim in court. The law says no state action may burden an individual’s exercise of religion unless it’s essential to furthering a compelling governmental interest and is the least restrictive means of achieving that.
West Virginia students entering school for the first time must show proof of immunization against diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, polio, measles, mumps, rubella, varicella, and hepatitis B unless properly medically exempted.
The state Board of Education has said it would abide by the letter of the school vaccination law, instructing county boards to refrain from accepting religious exemptions approved by the state health department.
Raleigh Circuit Judge Michael Froble earlier this summer issued a preliminary injunction allowing three families to send their children to Raleigh County schools based on religious exemptions to the state vaccination law.
That was what lawyers for the state board were appealing.
Now, Froble has scheduled a multi-day permanent injunction hearing to start next Wednesday.
Lawyers for the state school board initially had filed a motion to stay to halt that while an appeal what has already happened in Judge Froble’s courtroom could be considered.
Froble had already made his own ruling against halting the September proceedings. The county judge said the Supreme Court would benefit from more development of the case.
“My experience with the Supreme Court is, I truly believe that this case appealing the preliminary injunction case is premature, and that the Supreme Court would benefit immensely from full development and moving on,” Froble said.
He continued, “And the court believes that most of these are a lot of legal issues that need to be resolved and need to be presented in a manner in which the Supreme Court can fully understand the issues and have the opportunity to rule on us.”