Other federal court challenges to various COVID-19 vaccine mandates are ongoing. I dont think that the precedent is going to be that big of one, Griffin, the former Coast Guard lawyer, said. More:Dark money group targets Oklahoma Gov. The lawsuit emerges as the latest development in an ongoing fight between state leaders and the federal government as Gov. And, in fact, the Department of Defense allows medical exemptions and administrative exemptions from the vaccine. The Supreme Court is reviewing a legal shield that tech companies have long relied on to avoid liability for content on their platforms. . . Because how do you avoid getting to the point where anyone can deny or refuse any lawful order by claiming that they have a sincerely held religious belief that would be encumbered by it? 26 Feb 2023 11:38:25 Sixty-seven percent of the U.S. population is fully vaccinated. A ruling in that case, issued this past November by the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati, upheld previous wins by attorneys representing the service members over the last year and took aim at the Air Force's process of approving religious exemptions. The Army reported about 1,300 religious requests, none of which have been approved, as well as six medical exemptions. That means that this is quickly becoming a national security concern. Another claimant, a Muslim Marine Corps captain, who said that his religious beliefs that require him to abstain from participation in that which is haram forbidden including the destruction and commoditization of innocent human life as exemplified by the use of human fetal cell lines derived from abortions, according to the lawsuit. Sarah Parshall Perry is a senior legal fellow for the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation. Additionally, "promotion records will be corrected by the [Department of the Air Force] who will remove or redact all adverse actions related to vaccine refusal," according to a Friday press release. Theres yet another lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the militarys COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The policy does allow commanders to "implement Health Protection Measures at any time or manner deemed necessary in support of operational safety and effectiveness." The Marine Corps confirmed to a California congressman that two of those Marines were preparing to leave the service, while another one is doing a Training With Industry assignment. ), the Washington Post, and others. More than a dozen unidentified U.S. service members have filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the Defense Department's COVID-19 vaccine order, saying they have natural immunity from. Nearly 1,500 more people are exempt for medical or administrative reasons, such as severe allergic reactions or upcoming retirement. More than 60 service members have joined lawsuits against the U.S. government, alleging that the military's process for awarding religious vaccine exemptions is a sham. Those records are supposed to be cleared by March 31, according to the guidance. So our lawsuit is really predicated on on the argument that this is all a sham, that the Air Force is not following the Constitution. The Texas lawsuit also states the plaintiffs are willing to continue to wear masks, social distance and take mandatory COVID-19 tests, rather than get vaccinated. Air Force spokesperson Ann Stefanek declined to comment on ongoing litigation and how it may affect how the service handles religious accommodation requests. There is no verifiable evidence that COVID-19 vaccines have killed, or will kill, more military personnel than the disease itself. The lawsuit also fails to mention an established precedent regarding vaccines in religious traditions. Unlike VARES that is questioned a lot by the totally compromised medical establishment for accuracy, the U.S. military DMED (Defense Medical Epidemiology Database) reporting system is only submitted by military doctors and qualifies every single ICD (International Classification of Diseases) code in the military for Tricare billing to Humana Insurance covering over 6 million military personal. Underthat law, the government may substantially burden a persons exercise of religion only if it demonstrates that burden is (1) in furtherance of a compelling governmental interest; and (2) is the least restrictive means of furthering that interest. Her work has appeared in Air Force Magazine, Inside Defense, Inside Health Policy, the Frederick News-Post (Md. And well be back week after week.. Copyright 2023 Military.com. Based on his Roman Catholic Christian faith and absolute opposition to abortion, he cannot accept a vaccine that has been manufactured, or whose efficacy has been tested and proved, using aborted fetal cells, the Florida lawsuit alleges, on behalf of a Coast Guard pilot. And yet they say, you know what, we now believe that its okay, for our employees to not be vaccinated, its okay for our customers to not be vaccinated. Mike Barry: Probably not at the Supreme Court level. 2:14:14 Pentagon exploring back pay for troops kicked out of military over vaccine mandate. Nor do they mention the host of common medications that also use these stem cells, including Tylenol, Advil/Motrin, aspirin, Tums, Pepto Bismol, Benadryl, Sudafed and Claritin. Our lawsuit is certainly centered on religious exemption, but our lawsuit is broader than that to block the mandate in general of a non-FDA approved product, Staver said. The plaintiffs argue that violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the First Amendment. Jared Serbu: Last thing, theres a lot of these vaccine cases, even just military vaccine cases floating around in various district courts and circuits the moment. The Pentagon formally dropped the requirement in January following a December vote in Congress to end the mandate. And I have yet to hear of a single flight being canceled because there was a COVID outbreak at 30,000 feet. This disparity of treatment between medical and religious exemptions was constitutionally prohibited,OConnor said: As a brief preview, the vaccine mandate fails strict scrutiny. And now people will be able to take the analysis Supreme Court used and say, Okay, the way that they analyzed this issue, that might give us some indication of how they would analyze other issues, right. "I am proud of the efforts the Department of the Army has taken to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic," Wormuth said. COVID-19 vaccines are proven to be very safe and effective at preventing COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths. Members of the U.S. military who haven't been vaccinated against COVID-19 are starting to face the consequences. And so all of them have requested religious accommodations from the vaccine mandate, which is, of course, something that DoD regulations and even federal law, clearly permit and allow. And they recognize that theres almost a presumption of belief. T he MAGA medical group that spent the pandemic pushing horse paste and malaria meds as quack COVID cures has a new crusade: suing the Pentagon to stop its vaccine mandate. Then in April, the WHO warned that supplier Bharat Biotech had stopped production because of deficiencies in good manufacturing practices.. Jared Serbu: This case seems remarkably similar to another case that I think First Liberty was also counsel on with a group of Navy SEALs before the very same judge, I believe too. At 1,038, the Marine Corps leads the military branches for the most separations. The free exercise of religion, even in the military, it triggers the strongest protection available in the law.. Whats clear is that the COVID-19 has broken open a bit of a wormhole in the military. The plaintiffs argue that violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the Theres yet another lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the militarys COVID-19 vaccine mandate. Right? New family, former Corvias employee join lawsuit against Fort . We are hemorrhaging people like crazy, and were having a really hard time recruiting capable people to join our military. In one of many ongoing federal lawsuits challenging COVID-19 vaccine mandates across the country, Judge Reed O'Connor of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas issued a group . Our military, I mean, you can open any news feed that you want. Law firms Latham & Watkins LLP Follow Siri & Glimstad LLP (Reuters) - The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, facing a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit seeking a vast trove of data. Theyre not following their own regulations. The suit was initially filed by a group of Navy SEALs but later expanded to include all vaccine-refusing sailors. This whole thing is really unprecedented, right? On Feb. 17, the service lifted its policy of banning unvaccinated sailors from deploying. WASHINGTON Two months after the Pentagon began requiring all troops to get the coronavirus vaccine or face dismissal, the vast majority have now had shots, in part because none . The service branches must notify the Pentagon that they've made the changes no later than March 17. There was no indication when the judges would rule. More than 800 unvaccinated service members have been ousted from the Air Force so far. Rachel Cohen joined Air Force Times as senior reporter in March 2021. Lt. Col. Edward Stapanon, a Catholic instructor pilot at the 435th Fighter Training Squadron in Texas, said he requested retirement twice but was turned down because he hasnt finished out an extension of his active duty service commitment that ends in 2024. Similar to the Navy, the Marine Corps is no longer stopping unvaccinated Marines from deployments. Theyll accept that alternative and say, okay, you know, Im willing to do that instead. Mike Barry:No, I think what happens is they become much smaller cases, right? Plaintiffs sincerely held religious beliefs that their bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit and that they are to glorify God with their bodies lays the foundation for everything they do, consume, or inject into their bodies, according to the Florida lawsuit. Im willing to go through that. And usually when somebody is willing to go through those measures, that demonstrates a degree of sincerity. And in one instance, I saw one of the head people for recruiting in the military said, Were having a really hard time identifying, basically people who are eligible to serve in the military. The Navy on Wednesday announced it had granted one waiver to a member of the Individual Ready Reserve, a non-drilling service member, who would have to get vaccinated should he or she come on orders. She covers operations, policy, personnel, leadership and other issues affecting service members. Top Pentagon officials do not plan to alter their current "lawful orders" requiring the coronavirus shots for troops, unless they are granted waivers for medical or religious purposes, the. For a population accustomed to having very little power over their personal decisions where they live, what they wear, how they cut their hair, how much they weigh the opportunity to have some control over their medical decisions is an enormous discovery. Theyre basically saying, Nope, the vaccine is the only way that were going to allow you to continue to remain in the service. And one of the things I forgot to mention was the whole concept of natural immunity. It is not yet clear how the various services will handle pending lawsuits that sprang up in the years following the Pentagon's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. Otherwise, the courts are going to be flooded with thousands of lawsuits, he said. Dr Terry Adirim, the government bureaucrat behind the infamous and unlawful Pentagon vaccine mandate, will "leave her post in the coming days," reports FedScoop. (The Daily Signal is the news outlet of The Heritage Foundation.). A federal judge in Cincinnati has expanded a temporary exemption to a Department of Defense COVID-19 vaccine mandate to cover thousands of service members in the U.S. Air Force and Space Force,. DOD Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Gilbert R. Cisneros Jr., The vaccine mandate divided Americans and has remained a contentious political issue. For OConnor, the violation ofthe lawwas clear: Defendants have substantially burdened Plaintiffs religious beliefs. Is there any assurance on the record, that there will be no deployment decisions based on vaccination? Judge James Ho, one of three judges hearing the case asked Department of Justice lawyer Casen Ross. The government has recently ordered imminent punitive action against those men and women of faith who cannot in good conscience take these experimental vaccines, and this order stops the government in its tracks, Adam Hochschild, a lawyer with the Thomas More Society and lead counsel in Air Force Officer v. Austin, said in a release. Theyre usually willing to accept that and say, look, yeah, Im happy to. And the way that they are accomplishing their compelling interest is the least restrictive means on the persons religious beliefs. Members face the same injury: violation of their constitutional freedom by defendants clear policy of discrimination against religious accommodation requests, wrote McFarland, of the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of Ohio. And to say, basically, no, you will do this because we said so and if you dont, were gonna kick you out. There is no COVID-19 exception to the First Amendment. And our clients are, theyre stationed in various locations, quite a few of them are here in Texas. The Navy has, however, granted medical exemption requests submitted by other personnel. Thomas Bruns, a Cincinnati-based attorney with Bruns, Connell, Vollmar & Armstrong representing the service members, told Military.com on Monday that the service members in that case are promised full relief from any harms caused by the mandate. The NAVADMIN, referencing the injunction, prevents adverse action against sailors who will not get the COVID-19 vaccine and submitted a religious exemptions request. All rights reserved. The first military COVID-19 vaccine mandate will take effect in November. In January of last year, a federal judge in Texas barred the Navy from taking any action against the Navy plaintiffs for being unvaccinated. So if they work Sunday afternoon, or if theyre scheduled to work a particular Sunday afternoon, they say, Well, Im a Sabbath observer on Sundays. But what we cant do is say, well, because they ruled this way, in this case, this is how theyre going to rule in all cases. In the Ohio case, 2nd Lt. Hunter Doster of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and more than a dozen other plaintiffs argue the Air Force is forcing them to lose their livelihoods or violate their religious beliefs by receiving vaccines they say are impure or have ties to abortion. "It hasn't done it yet. The Florida filing also spends much more time on the biographies of the complainants. The "rule" and the ways it will be fought 1:43:40 How to fight the NFA and its unconstitutional rule about barrel lengths. Circuit Court of Appeals panel that federal court injunctions against the mandate are still needed, in part because decisions on deployments and assignments can still be made based on vaccination status. But the DoD is just saying Nope, we wont even recognize that we wont even consider it, even though they consider natural immunity for other communicable diseases and infections and things like that. The World Health Organization approved Covaxin for emergency use in late 2021, making it a viable option for airmen who object to the three main U.S. shots. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area. Theyre burdensome, but the person says, But you know what, at the end of the day, Im not have to inject something in my body that violates my religious beliefs. As part of the exemption process, service members are required to meet with a chaplain to work through their concerns.