A federal judge imposed an injunction on the Department of Defense after a group of 35 special forces services members sued over the vaccine mandate on religion grounds.
U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor issued a preliminary injunction blocking the Navy and Defense Department from enforcing the mandate.
O’Connor points out that the Navy had not granted a single religious exemption to the vaccine rule.
He wrote (emphasis added):
“Our nation asks the men and women in our military to serve, suffer, and sacrifice. But we do not ask them to lay aside their citizenry and give up the very rights they have sworn to protect. Every president since the signing of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act has praised the men and women of the military for their bravery and service in protecting the freedoms this country guarantees.
In this case, members of the military seek protection under those very freedoms. Thirtyfive Navy Special Warfare servicemembers allege that the military’s mandatory vaccination policy violates their religious freedoms under the First Amendment and Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The Navy provides a religious accommodation process, but by all accounts, it is theater. The Navy has not granted a religious exemption to any vaccine in recent memory. It merely rubber stamps each denial. The Navy servicemembers in this case seek to vindicate the very freedoms they have sacrificed so much to protect. The COVID-19 pandemic provides the government no license to abrogate those freedoms. There is no COVID-19 exception to the First Amendment. There is no military exclusion from our Constitution.”
The First Liberty Institute, a group dedicated to defending U.S. religious freedoms, represented the special forces members.
Mike Berry, the institute’s general counsel said in a statement, “forcing a service member to choose between their faith and serving their country is abhorrent to the Constitution and America’s values.”
O'Connor's ruling comes as potentially thousands of U.S Marines face potential discharge for refusing the vaccine after the Department of Defense’s mandate on all active-duty service members went into effect for the Marine Corps on Nov. 28.