Vaccine Mandates, the Ninth Circuit, and the Battle Over Bodily Autonomy

Are vaccine mandates constitutional? In this episode of Unwritten Law, hosts Mark Chenoweth and John Vecchione sit down with NCLA’s Jenin Younes to discuss Health Freedom Defense Fund v. Carvalho, a critical case before the Ninth Circuit challenging Los Angeles Unified School District’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.The lawsuit questions whether government agencies can force employees to take a non-sterilizing vaccine—one that does not stop transmission—under the long-misinterpreted Jacobson v. Massachusetts precedent. The team unpacks why Jacobson doesn’t justify rubber-stamping mandates, how courts have misapplied it for decades, and what this case could mean for future public health policies.