"Marines will defer to Combatant Command policies regarding deployments.". [Many] didnt even know that there was a religious exemption option, because they had never been informed of it, Staver said. Mike Barry: I think theres almost 30 now. Theyre not following their own regulations. But Islamic tradition does not discourage vaccination, and doesnt forbid abortion before 17 weeks gestation, with even more leeway if the health of the mother is in jeopardy or if there are life-threatening fetal abnormalities. Subscribe on PodcastOne or Apple Podcasts. The Supreme Court ruled in March 2022 that the sea service was allowed to reassign sailors who had refused the shot and filed exemption requests to nonoperational commands. Federal News Network's DoD Cloud Exchange: From enterprise to the tactical edge discover how the Defense Department and military services intend to advance their use of cloud technologies. While it allowed service members to apply for religious exemptions to the mandate, it has not granted a single one. 26 Feb 2023 11:38:25 NEW ORLEANS Federal appeals court judges closely questioned a Biden administration attorney Monday on the consequences military personnel might face for refusing COVID-19 vaccinations, even though Bidens vaccine mandate for military personnel has been rescinded. But it may not take a lawsuit for the issue to change the environment when it comes to mandatory vaccination. According data submitted in the Florida case on Feb. 8: The services have declined to provide any details about the circumstances of the religious approvals, but both lawsuits allege that at least one of those Marines is due to leave service later this year. The Air Force has approved 135 religious exemption requests out of thousands submitted so far. Any sailors who submitted a religious exemption for the COVID-19 vaccine can continue in the Navy under the injunction, according to NAVADMIN 102/22. 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. In December, the Air Force announced it had discharged 27 people for refusing to get the COVID . The Navy comes in second with a total of 469 separations, which includes 50 this past week. Sarah Parshall Perry is a senior legal fellow for the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation. When they inquired about seeking religious accommodation for the vaccine, the Navy informed many of them that they could face court-martial or involuntary separation if they refused to take the vaccine. There is no military exclusion from our Constitution. A vaccine lawsuit is filed in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, instead of regular state or federal courts like other drug injury claims. Government lawyers argue the policy is in line with well-established principles of judicial noninterference with core military decision making, in their briefs. A timeline of when vaccines are due was left up to the . COVID-19 vaccines are proven to be very safe and effective at preventing COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths. The group includes 14 men and two women. The Catholic Churchs policy on derived fetal cells has been clear for decades: the sin of abortion is so far removed in pharmaceutical development that a Catholic is not violating any principles by getting vaccinated. The question is, whats the bigger risk to readiness: Discharging skilled, expensively trained service members for refusing to get vaccinated, or allowing them to continue serving with the potential to become infected with COVID-19, experience serious illness and potentially long-lasting side effects? Just because the plaintiffs identify as a member of one religion or another doesnt mean they need to follow every tradition, according to Griffin, the former Coast Guard lawyer, nor would they need to justify why they are religiously opposed to the COVID-19 vaccine in particular. While in Texas, the sailors offered descriptions of their jobs, in Florida, the biographical information goes into training, deployments and expertise, attempting to make the case that their involuntary discharges would be a huge loss. Jehovahs Witnesses, who ban military service for their members, are probably the most prominent. 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. They argue that their 1st Amendment rights are being infringed upon, because their sincerely held religious beliefs prevent them from receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. We are kicking out people by the thousands. That includes protection from an adverse action while their exemptions are in process, a key part of the complaint, according to one of the attorneys on the lawsuit, which alleges that the plaintiffs have been removed from their jobs, flagged for promotion or otherwise hampered during the exemption process. The Pentagon directed all the services to "formally rescind any policies, directives, and guidance implementing those vaccination mandates as soon as possible, if they have not already done so," according to a Friday press release. President Joe Biden signed the. The Supreme Court is reviewing a legal shield that tech companies have long relied on to avoid liability for content on their platforms. While vials contain the same formula, some have made the argument that because providers are still giving the emergency-use Pfizer version, no one can be compelled to get vaccinated until the Comirnaty-labeled vials are in circulation. Were pleased that the court has acted to protect our brave warriors before more damage is done to our national security. 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. It also allows them to restrict sailors' movement "in order to comply with host nation quarantine regulations.". The goal, representatives for the plaintiffs say, is to at least secure religious exemptions for their clients, but potentially see a Supreme Court ruling that would apply to all service members. The mandate treats comparable secular activity (e.g., medical exemptions) more favorably than religious activity. The Coast Guard issued guidance Monday announcing it was "taking action to remove" all administrative remark entries related to the COVID-19 vaccination mandate from reserve and active-duty records. Follow him on Twitter @TomNovelly. The Marine Corps had fielded 3,500 religious waiver requests, granting three, in addition to about 250 medical waivers and 400 other administrative approvals. The quickest vaccine ever developed was for mumps. More than 60 service members have joined lawsuits against the U.S. government, alleging that the militarys process for awarding religious vaccine exemptions is a sham. Mike Barry:Well, I mean, thats the beauty of the way that the law works, right? The Pentagon formally dropped the requirement in January following a December vote in Congress to end the mandate. Theres a case to be made for turning these lawsuits into class action matters, Staver said, so that individual service members dont have to sue or just another case. In late August, Pfizers vaccine received full approval under the brand name Comirnaty. Fox News U.S. There is no verifiable evidence that COVID-19 vaccines have killed, or will kill, more military personnel than the disease itself. Editors note: This story has been updated with information from the hearing. 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. The Religious Freedom Restoration Act sets a low bar for proving ones religious beliefs, in that if someone states them, they are assumed to be sincere. And they have different ranks, different different job responsibilities in the Air Force, a number of them are actually pilots in the Air Force. They argue that their. Jared Serbu: Mike, thanks for being here. The temporary restraining order means the military cannot punish airmen and Space Force guardians whose application for a religious exemption to one of the federally endorsed vaccines was denied or is still being processed. And is there somewhere else we can assign them where maybe theyre at less risk of of COVID transmission or they start looking at the data, right, the actual CDC data and the COVID day they start look kicking it around and saying, You know what? Staver, the attorney for the Florida plaintiffs, said his clients have shared their exemption rejection letters, which do not detail specifically why their requests werent approved. Through much prayer and reflection, Plaintiffs have sought wisdom, understanding, and guidance on the proper decisions to make concerning these COVID-19 vaccines, and Plaintiffs have been convicted by the Holy Spirit that accepting any of the three currently available vaccines is against the teachings of Scripture and would be a sin, according to a Florida lawsuit first filed in late 2021, then amended on Feb. 7 with additional plaintiffs. 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. 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. Under the law, theres no requirement that you adhere to a major or even recognized faith tradition, he said. In a hypothetical alternate universe where it were the Navy and the Air Force, the rest of the services had an exemption process or a waiver process that did look more credible to you and to the court, do you lose these cases? New family, former Corvias employee join lawsuit against Fort . Here, Plaintiffs must decide whether to lose their livelihoods or violate sincerely held religious beliefs. The government has since filed a notice that it plans to appeal the decision. OConnor ruled that the blanket denial of their religious waiver requests amounted to a violation of the service members rights under the First Amendment andthe Religious Freedom Restoration Act. 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DoD, for its part, settled its own policy with a memo from Assistant Defense Secretary for Health Affairs Terry Adirim last fall. "There are no current COVID-19 vaccine restrictions on deployments or assignments for the Marine Corps as a service," Capt. The Navy service members in this case seek to vindicate the very freedoms they have sacrificed so much to protect,OConnor wrote, adding: The COVID-19 pandemic provides the government no license to abrogate those freedoms. 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. Theres yet another lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the militarys COVID-19 vaccine mandate. 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. They have similar objections to their Texas counterparts, from opposition to abortion to concerns about modifying their bodies. For the Texas case, its more likely those sailors will receive religious exemptions, but that they wont necessarily change the way the military mandates vaccines or reviews exemptions. Starbucks, for example, doesnt have a vaccine requirement. Our military, I mean, you can open any news feed that you want. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area. Lawyers are waiting to see if a federal court in Georgia will stop the vaccine mandate nationwide through another class-action preliminary injunction as well. Ho and Judge Kyle Duncan noted that the administration had only reluctantly ended the military mandate after December congressional action, but Ross assured the panel that there are no plans to bring back the requirement. So for example, in a different context, somebody who says that theyre a Sabbath observer, and they cannot work on the Sabbath, but that theyre willing to trade ships with somebody, most of the cases Ive seen, theyre actually willing to take, what most people consider be a less favorable shift. Its really the same thing in the military context with this vaccine, where theyre saying, Look, teleworking or, doing a lot of these other measures, right, social distancing, masking, testing, whatever the case might be. Similar suits have been brought throughout the country by service members across the military branches. Produced by Will Reid , Rob Szypko . A 5th Circuit panel rejected the Biden administrations request to block the judges order. Ross said such questions were speculative and not at issue in the case before the court. Another lawsuit, first filed by troops attached to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, has led to temporary protections for around 10,000 active-duty, Active Reserve, reserve and National Guard members of the Air Force and Space Force who requested a religious exemption from the COVID vaccine, although only those who have been denied an exemption would face immediate action. The only difference is really is that each branch of the military has their own internal regulations and policies for how they adjudicate these things. Read Next: The Navy's Top Enlisted Sailor Is Ready for You to Ask Him Anything. And so of course, that means you have to bring different lawsuits on behalf of people, depending on what branch of the military that theyre in. The government responded to the lawsuit by pointing out that immunization requirements are common in the military beginning with the Continental Army under George Washington and that vaccines and are essential to preventing the transmission of diseases in close quarters. The first lawsuit to garner national attention, filed in Texas late last year, made a splash because its plaintiffs include SEALs, among the most elite of the militarys special operations forces. 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. 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. Military service members have. Well, what if somebodys not really sincere? Otherwise, the courts are going to be flooded with thousands of lawsuits, he said. It took four years and was licensed in 1967. The chief of Irans nuclear program, Mohammad Eslami, acknowledged the findings of the IAEA report. Their objections to the vaccine fall into one of four categories, according to their complaint, including opposition to abortion and the use of fetal cell lines in pharmaceutical development, belief that body modification violates their religious principles, direct, divine instruction not to receive the vaccine, or declining to inject trace amounts of animal cells into ones body.. The government burdens religion when it put[s] substantial pressure on an adherent to modify his behavior and to violate his beliefs.. 300aa-10-300aa-44). And that is textbook discrimination, right? The number of exemptions has fluctuated over the last several months as some people decided to get the shots or leave the service instead of seeking accommodation. All rights reserved. Whats clear is that the COVID-19 has broken open a bit of a wormhole in the military. The complaint also brings up the issue of Food and Drug Administration licensure.