A federal choose in Texas has decided that the U.S. Navy can not punish 35 sailors who refused to obtain the COVID-19 vaccine.
The choice was made on the grounds that the sailors defied the vaccination mandate on non secular grounds. These sailors are a part of the only a few sailors that haven't been vaccinated, as no less than 98.5 p.c of energetic and reserve Navy members have been vaccinated. The ruling is a blow to Secretary of Protection Lloyd Austin's push to make vaccines obligatory for all branches of the navy.
"The Navy servicemembers on this case search to vindicate the very freedoms they've sacrificed a lot to guard," wrote U.S. District Decide Reed O'Connor in his choice. "The COVID-19 pandemic offers the federal government no license to abrogate these freedoms. There is no such thing as a COVID-19 exception to the First Modification. There is no such thing as a navy exclusion from our Structure."
Austin has argued that the COVID-19 vaccine is a mandatory medical requirement for all service members. Exemptions had been allowed to be filed in opposition to the vaccine mandate, though none have allegedly been granted as of but.
It's unknown at the moment if or how this ruling will have an effect on different sailors who've sued Austin and the Navy. The Pentagon has not commented on the ruling as of this writing.
O'Connor wrote that the Navy's course of for contemplating a sailor's request for a spiritual exemption is flawed and quantities to "theater."
O'Connor, who was appointed by President George W. Bush, wrote that the group of 35 sailors who sued the federal government in November and sought a preliminary injunction in opposition to the Navy have a proper on non secular and First Modification grounds to refuse the vaccination order.
The O'Connor injunction was first reported by The Washington Publish.
With out commenting on the case in Texas, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby final month defended the validity of the navy service's processes for contemplating non secular exemptions.
"Every exemption requested for on non secular grounds is evaluated by a chaplain, by a sequence of command, by medical consultants and is given various thought, they usually're all determined case by case individually," he stated December 21.
In his choice in favor of the injunction sought by the 35 Navy sailors, O'Connor wrote that they objected to being vaccinated on 4 grounds: "opposition to abortion and the usage of aborted fetal cell traces in growth of the vaccine; perception that modifying one's physique is an affront to the Creator; divine instruction to not obtain the vaccine, and opposition to injecting hint quantities of animal cells into one's physique."
"Plaintiffs' beliefs concerning the vaccine are undisputedly honest, and it isn't the position of this court docket to find out their truthfulness or accuracy," the choose wrote.
The sailors who sued are members of the Naval Particular Warfare Command, together with SEALs. The go well with was filed by First Liberty Institute, a nonprofit that focuses on defending non secular liberty.
The Related Press contributed to this report.
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