CNN Legal Analyst Kathleen Smith:
I’m not going to get in the business of speculating with respect to the judge’s ruling.
But the question that goes to the underlying issue here is why do we even think that a government mandate to vaccinate and some kind of requirement to do so in this particular instance and others like it is necessary?
I think the question is so inextricably linked to other social issues, like, how do we inoculate ourselves against the threat of disease? And the second issue is where do we draw the line between protecting ourselves and also protecting our children?
How do we decide between protecting both? Because I think that there are arguments in this and at least I think this is an issue that the broader judiciary and the broader public should engage in that involves protecting both children, protecting the freedoms of America’s children and protecting this idea of — or any other children — of being able to inoculate our children and also protect ourselves from something that is so devastating and infectious as a certain kind of disease.