A group of concerned citizens has sued the City of San Diego in federal court for mandating the COVID vaccine for city employees, volunteers, members of boards, commissions and elected officials.
ReOpen San Diego filed the complaint Feb. 15 requesting declaratory judgement and permanent injunction because the city mandate allegedly excludes the unvaccinated from accessing city government buildings, such as city hall, and infringes upon their right to vote for unvaccinated candidates.
“It's definitely political,” said attorney Arie Spangler who filed the lawsuit on behalf of ReOpen San Diego. “You can see from the way that this vote went on this ordinance. The majority of the council is Democrat. There's only one Republican and the sole Republican on the council voted ‘No.’ Everyone else voted ‘Yes.’”
About 79.5% of San Diego County residents are fully vaccinated, according to the county’s COVID-19 dashboard, leaving some 20.5% of San Diego County residents outcast from participating in city government.
The San Diego City Council approved the emergency ordinance on Nov. 29, 2021 during a special meeting.
“We sent a demand letter back in December asking the city council to rescind the ordinance but they didn't respond to that so I'm guessing that we'll get a response within the next month from their attorneys on this lawsuit,” Spangler told the Southern California Record.
The lawsuit accuses the San Diego city council of violating the plaintiff’s right to privacy as well as the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.
“The Ordinance does not permit elected officials, board members, volunteers, and citizens who wish to attend city meetings or engage in city business inside any city building to submit proof of recovery from COVID-19, which provides more durable immunity than vaccination,” Spangler wrote in the brief. “They a right to refuse medical treatment.”
Founded in 2020, ReOpen San Diego states on its website that it is a non-partisan coalition of passionate citizens from all walks of life.
“San Diego's ordinance is definitely one of the broadest I've seen and I don't think it's constitutional and I think it violates the Brown Act as well as the city's charter so it would surprise me if other cities have decided to do this just because it's so blatantly illegal,” Spangler said.
The Brown Act requires that the legislative body of a local agency be open and public to all persons.
“This ordinance affects our democracy and it affects elections and voting rights,” Spangler added.