Idaho’s Medical Freedom Act and a Federal Court Ruling

Idaho’s Medical Freedom Act and a Federal Court Ruling Leslie Manookian, founder of the Health Freedom Defense Fund, drafted and helped pass Idaho’s Medical Freedom Act into law, a landmark measure passed after an initial gubernatorial veto, signed by Governor Brad Little on April 4, 2025. The statute bars employers, businesses, and public actors from requiring medical interventions—vaccines, tests, masks, pills, devices, or injections—as a condition of ordinary life in Idaho, while still allowing ordinary public-health steps such as sending a sick child home from school or asking someone to wash their hands. This past December, a French-owned daycare in Boise filed a federal lawsuit challenging the law, alleging eight constitutional violations, including interference with freedom of assembly and expression because the facility could not exclude unvaccinated children. The case was filed in federal rather than state court due to claims Idaho’s Medical Freedom Act violates the Constitution. Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador, who had publicly supported the bill, defended the statute. A federal judge dismissed the complaint with prejudice, meaning it cannot be refiled. Manookian characterized the judge as a moderate Biden appointee who found the plaintiffs’ reading of the law a “gross misinterpretation.” The ruling held that the Act does not silence speech or prevent private expression of views; it only prohibits coercion of medical procedures. Manookian framed the decision as useful precedent for other states. In January 2025 her organization and Stand for Health Freedom launched a 15-group Medical Freedom Act Coalition that includes Americans for Health Freedom. Model legislation and toolkits were circulated. Similar bills were introduced in about a dozen states during the 2026 sessions, often by senior legislators or physicians. Arizona’s version passed both chambers before Governor Katie Hobbs vetoed it. Manookian expected the measure to return in 2027, especially if a more supportive governor is elected. She cited a poll commissioned with Brownstone Institute showing 91 percent of respondents across parties favored informed consent for medical choices, including vaccination, and 87 percent wanted medical freedom written into law. Our discussion then turned to federal agencies. Manookian argued the CDC lacks statutory authority under the Public Health Service Act to issue vaccine recommendations that shape individual medical decisions or to practice “shared clinical decision making.” She compared the situation to earlier litigation against the FDA over ivermectin statements and to her own successful 2022 challenge to the federal transportation mask mandate. She contended that no childhood vaccine on the CDC schedule has undergone a proper placebo-controlled safety study and that state statutes often incorporate the federal schedule, giving recommendations the practical force of law. She also warned of hundreds of mRNA products in development and urged state legislatures, not federal agencies, to set health policy. We both stressed grassroots work: contacting legislators in the off-season, joining newsletters, attending local meetings, and supporting allied groups. Manookian presented the Idaho ruling and the multi-state campaign as evidence that medical-freedom legislation can survive court review and that public support is broader than some pollsters claim. Follow Leslie Manookian and the Health Freedom Defense Fund on X. Get full access to Dangerous Misinformation at drbowden.substack.com/subscribe