Prof Who Was Fired After Refusing COVID Vaccine Sues Minnesota Gov. Walz
“Stewart, a philosophy professor at the college for 30 years, believed that such a requirement was both unconstitutional and unnecessary”
It couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.
The College Fix reports:
Professor fired after refusing COVID vaccine sues Minnesota Gov. Walz
Nearly five years since the COVID-19 virus took the world by storm, those claiming injury from government vaccine mandates continue to come forward with new cases for litigation.
Such is the position of Professor Russell Stewart (pictured), who lost his job after his opposition to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s vaccine mandates.
Now, the professor is suing the Democrat governor and leaders of Lake Superior College, a public community college in Duluth.
On Tuesday, his lawyers at the New Civil Liberties Alliance appeared before U.S. District Court Judge Kate Menendez, asking the court to reject the plaintiffs’ request to dismiss the case.
Lead counsel Jenin Younes expressed optimism about the outcome in an email afterward to The College Fix.
There’s a strong precedence for Stewart in case law, she said.
“In the Eighth Circuit, the government is given less deference to impose measures to combat health-related threats after the immediate emergency has passed,” Younes said.
Walz’s mandate was not issued until over a year after COVID-19 appeared, the lawsuit states. In 2021, the governor issued a decree requiring that all state employees must either be vaccinated or comply with weekly testing measures.
Stewart, a philosophy professor at the college for 30 years, believed that such a requirement was both unconstitutional and unnecessary, and refused, according to the lawsuit.
As a result, he was censured for his nonconformity. He was placed on unpaid administrative leave until he would conform to the mandates, was barred from campus, and banned from teaching his classes, including his online classes, the complaint states.
“As Prof. Stewart argued during multiple disciplinary hearings, it made no sense to force him to get a vaccine that did not stop transmission, especially once he acquired immunity to Covid-19 in December 2021,” according to a case summary by New Civil Liberties Alliance.
After a disciplinary hearing with college administrators, Stewart emailed his students to inform them that he would be indefinitely absent from class and criticized LSC’s policy choices. He was terminated from his job shortly after, according to the lawsuit.
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“it made no sense to force him to get a vaccine that did not stop transmission, especially once he acquired immunity to Covid-19 in December 2021”
It’s time science-denying Democrats were forced to Follow The Science.