Francisco Vara-Orta reports that the Northside Independent School District student who has refused to wear an RFID chipped ID tag on religious grounds has lost her lawsuit, and the district can transfer her to another school in the district that does not use RFID-chipped tags if she continues to refuse to wear one.
Andrea Hernandez had refused to wear the tag, claiming that the chip was the “Mark of the Beast.”
The court’s ruling had nothing to do with any privacy claim but had to do with whether the district had accommodated her religious beliefs. The court held that because the district had accommodated her by removing the chip from the tag she was still required to wear, there was no First Amendment issue before the court.
The Rutherford Institute, who provided legal counsel for the student, issued a statement saying they intend to appeal the ruling.