2:41 . And youll see headline after headline talking about the recruiting and retention woes that plague our military right now. Please contact Susan Rushkowski at publicfiledc@hubbardradio.com or (202) 895-5027. 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? Its just such an inappropriate position for the government to be in.. For OConnor, the violation ofthe lawwas clear: Defendants have substantially burdened Plaintiffs religious beliefs. The military's COVID-19 vaccine was repealed after the National Defense Authorization Act passed and was signed into law this month. And at least in the Starbucks is that Ive been in recently where theyve been packed in like sardines. "We are grateful for the support of the Legislature and the Governor in the State's efforts to block the . 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. Theyre not pleasant. It also allows them to restrict sailors' movement "in order to comply with host nation quarantine regulations.". All the things that, you know, that the Navy was doing to harass and punish sailors we basically wanted that to all stop, Mike Berry, a former Marine judge advocate and now vice president at First Liberty Institute, which represents the Texas plaintiffs, told Military Times on Wednesday. The story seems pretty similar to whats going on with these airmen. US Military has approved religious exemptions to vaccine mandate - CNN President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. condemned the mid-morning attack. U.S. Military Service Members with Natural Immunity File Lawsuit over COVID Vaccine Mandate. They include the small risk of myocarditis, which has anecdotally occurred in 1,626 U.S. residents out of more than 200 million fully vaccinated, with the highest risk in men under 24. In other words, its usually ill-advised to take an opinion on one subject or one issue, and then try to extrapolate and say and that and say, Well, that should apply across the board to all issues. Dr Terry Adirim, the government bureaucrat behind the infamous and unlawful Pentagon vaccine mandate, will "leave her post in the coming days," reports FedScoop. So everywhere else in society has been able to figure this out, but our military hasnt because they take such an iron fisted, draconian approach to everything. Lawsuits over military vaccine mandate to continue despite DOD 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. Troops who refused COVID vaccine still may face discipline 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. Lawyers for a group of Navy SEALS and other Navy personnel who refuse to be vaccinated for religious reasons told a 5th U.S. The Army also announced in a Friday press release that ongoing reviews of COVID vaccine exemption requests, records of soldiers who requested COVID vaccine exemptions, vaccine requirements for accessions or pre-commissioning programs, and travel restrictions based solely on COVID vaccination status will be removed or amended. They argue that their. On Jan. 7,the Supreme Court is set to hear oral argumentsin a set of high-profile, consolidated cases on the Biden administrations vaccine mandates for private-sector entities with 100 or more employees, and for health care facilities that receive Medicaid and Medicare funding. 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. I mean, all of it is just fraught with ideological purpose, and suspected purpose.. When I meet my maker, Im going to be held responsible for the decisions Ive made, and Id much rather go to prison, Stapanon testified in March. While it allowed service members to apply for religious exemptions to the mandate, it has not granted a single one. Like the other service branches, the Navy required all active-duty service members to be fully vaccinated before Nov. 28 or risk a full range of disciplinary action. . Given the prevailing public health guidelines and the state of the virus, there is currently no intention to require universal vaccination of all service members, Ross said. They have similar objections to their Texas counterparts, from opposition to abortion to concerns about modifying their bodies. The next stop in the litigation is likely to be an appeal by the Department of Defense and the Biden administration to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit. 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. 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. More than 60,000 Army soldiers losing pay, benefits over vaccine 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 Navy SEALS filed their lawsuit in November of 2021, describing what they saw as a cumbersome 50-step process to obtain religious exemptions for the COVID-19 vaccine. But although the Air Force has approved hundreds of medical and administrative exemptions, they have only approved a very small handful of religious exemptions and even the ones that theyve approved by their own admission, they are only for Air Force members who are basically already separating or are already on their way out. And they recognize that theres almost a presumption of belief. Pfizer Inc wants to intervene in a Texas federal lawsuit seeking information from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration used in licensing the company's COVID-19 vaccine, a litigation move that . Compensation Programs for Potential COVID-19 Vaccine Injuries - Congress She covers operations, policy, personnel, leadership and other issues affecting service members. Details emerge of Vaccine Choice Canada lawsuit over coronavirus - CBC By Bethany Blankley (The Center Square) Military leaders will testify on Tuesday before the Military Personnel Subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee about the impact of the Department of Defense's COVID-19 vaccine mandate on DOD employees and military service members. Similar suits have been brought throughout the country by service members across the military branches. 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. All told the lawsuit includes 26 SEALs from the original complaint, plus five special warfare combatant crewmen, five divers and one explosive ordnance disposal technician who joined the case in late January. That means that this is quickly becoming a national security concern. Produced by Will Reid , Rob Szypko . Hes one of the attorneys representing the airmen challenging the mandate, and he spoke more to Jared Serbu on theFederal Drive with Tom Temin. And the way that they are accomplishing their compelling interest is the least restrictive means on the persons religious beliefs. Mike Berry, general counsel for First Liberty Institute,said: Forcing a service member to choose between their faith and serving their country is abhorrent to the Constitution and Americas values . 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. I dont think that the precedent is going to be that big of one, Griffin, the former Coast Guard lawyer, said. The Navy lawsuit is one of several ongoing legal challenges to the military branches' policies on religious exemptions to the DoD COVID-19 vaccine mandate. In response to Military.com stating that the COVID-19 "vaccines have some rare side effects, including heart inflammation that has affected at least 22 service members, according to a study from the JAMA Network," an attorney working with U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin, and whistle blowers in the U.S. military are pushing back against . Quite the contrary, they view life whether their own or that of their fellow servicemembers as sacred and deserving protection.. And I havent heard of a single Starbucks shutting down. Cincinnati federal judge blocks Air Force, Air National Guard - FOX19 Here's the Army rule for vaccine refusals, which service leaders The judge recognized that when he granted our [temporary restraining order] on Feb. 2 because toward the end, he said the public has an interest also in this because these are courageous skilled, individuals who are not easily replaceable, Staver said. Most of the plaintiffs express some sort of Christian faith, though the vast majority of denominations have no formal ban on vaccination. Both cases are in a wait-and-see phase, where judges have granted injunctions against any discipline for vaccine refusal while the government responds to requests for information. This piece originally appeared in The Daily Signal. A group of lawsuit plaintiffs, including four Air Force officers and a Secret Service agent, have asked a federal court to block the Biden administration's coronavirus vaccination mandates,. They dont offer what are, in the legal speak, we call advisory opinions. 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. Because they will not compromise these religious beliefs, Plaintiffs have been threatened with separation from the military and other disciplinary action. The judge's decision impacts 200 to 300 servicemembers stationed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, who filed the lawsuit against top military leaders back in February. 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. Religious exemption for COVID vaccine: Does military mandate offer one On Friday, President Joe Biden signed the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2023, which repeals the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for service members. The "rule" and the ways it will be fought 1:43:40 How to fight the NFA and its unconstitutional rule about barrel lengths. The problem here is that the government is simply unwilling to offer any compromises. The Navy already denied these exemptions, but O'Connor. A 5th Circuit panel rejected the Biden administrations request to block the judges order. WASHINGTON (AP) A bill to rescind the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for members of the U.S. military and provide nearly $858 billion for national defense passed the House on Thursday as. Biden admin still pushing COVID vaccine mandate for military: It's Pfizer pushes to intervene in lawsuit seeking COVID vaccine information They had been told to get certain vaccines or other things without even be notified of a religious objection.. You got a preliminary injunction in that case and a favorable ruling from the Fifth Circuit. Troops who refuse mandatory COVID-19 vaccines will likely also face courts-martial for the same offense, said Zaid, who represented Task & Purpose in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit to force . All of the military services have released vaccine refusal policies, none of them involving judicial or non-judicial charges for simply staying unvaccinated. 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. Right? DOD Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Gilbert R. Cisneros Jr., Total exemptions granted in the Air Force included about 1,500 temporary medical exemptions and 2,300 administrative waivers, which includes the nine religious approvals. As part of the exemption process, service members are required to meet with a chaplain to work through their concerns. Thats really prohibited by the by the courts considering these types of cases. Lawmakers expressed frustration with the news . "This vaccine mandate is unlawful and does not reflect the Land of the Free," said General O'Connor. And thats why this is a sham.Jared Serbu: The Air Force case is a putative class action. 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 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. Plaintiffs, therefore, do not object to safety measures that reduce the transmission of COVID-19 in the workplace, it reads. Theyre usually willing to accept that and say, look, yeah, Im happy to. Were pleased that the court has acted to protect our brave warriors before more damage is done to our national security. Yet another lawsuit challenging military's - Federal News Network 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. On Tuesday, a federal judge granted an injunction against discipline of an Air Force officer whose religious exemption had been denied. 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. Simply put, no actual fetal cells were used in the development of any of the COVID-19 vaccines the cells in question were replicated by scientists, in labs, from tissue harvested previously. A Ruling That Could End the Internet as We Know It - The New York Times 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 Marine Corps separated 165 Marines over the past week due to their refusal to get vaccinated against COVID-19. US Military To Face COVID-19 Vaccine Lawsuit February 18, 2023 The vaccine mandate for military personnel was put in place in August, with a deadline of Sept. 15. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area. More than 1 million Americans have died from COVID-19 since the virus began spreading in December 2019, and the U.S. has recorded around 89 million cases. It is a danger of, you know, the government saying, Well, hey, heres what your faith tradition teaches, you should follow that, " Griffin said. The suit was initially filed by a group of Navy SEALs but later expanded to include all vaccine-refusing sailors. DoD, for its part, settled its own policy with a memo from Assistant Defense Secretary for Health Affairs Terry Adirim last fall. There is no verifiable evidence that COVID-19 vaccines have killed, or will kill, more military personnel than the disease itself. They argue that their. Thousands of U.S. military defy COVID-19 vaccine order - Los Angeles Times 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. 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. 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 I think that if one of these cases does end up in front of the Supreme Court, it will probably be addressed just on the narrow vaccine issue. 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More than 1.14 million out of the 1.4 million active military members have been fully vaccinated as of Wednesday, according to DoD data. A federal court in Ohio on Thursday blocked the Air Force from enforcing the militarys coronavirus vaccine mandate for two weeks, a short-term win for airmen fighting multiple legal battles against inoculation. Brazil's Emerging Judicial Dictatorship Telling Plaintiffs they must accept or receive a shot they oppose according to their sincerely held religious beliefs, or face court martial, dishonorable discharge, and other life altering disciplinary measures, disgraces the sacrifices these heroes have made, according to the lawsuit. Similar to the Navy, the Marine Corps is no longer stopping unvaccinated Marines from deployments. That is especially true when the government imposes a choice between ones job and ones religious belief. The Supreme Court is reviewing a legal shield that tech companies have long relied on to avoid liability for content on their platforms. "Former Soldiers may petition the Army Discharge Review Board and the Army Board for Correction of Military Records to request corrections to their records," the service's press release said. This disparity of treatment between medical and religious exemptions was constitutionally prohibited,OConnor said: As a brief preview, the vaccine mandate fails strict scrutiny. Everyone who joins the military must receive a slate of several vaccines to enter, including chickenpox, rubella and hepatitis A. 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. Fox News U.S. 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. Kevin Stitt with Fox News ads The soldier and Marine also want their case escalated into a class action lawsuit to take in other military personnel plus Department of Defense contractors. The . Navy quietly rolled back punishments for SEALs seeking religious The NAVADMIN, referencing the injunction, prevents adverse action against sailors who will not get the COVID-19 vaccine and submitted a religious exemptions request. Essentially, while the Marines applied for exemptions on religious grounds, they were already entitled to a much more straightforward administrative exemption for troops soon to leave service or not currently with their units, which is likely the reason they were approved. You can't sue Pfizer or Moderna if you have severe Covid vaccine side And lets start by talking a bit about your clients, where they are in the Air Force vaccine exemption process and what led you to file the suit? The government really cant scrutinize belief very far.. Same thing on airplanes, right? On Feb. 17, the service lifted its policy of banning unvaccinated sailors from deploying. Meghann Myers is the Pentagon bureau chief at Military Times. 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House passes defense bill scrapping military's Covid vaccine mandate Air Force spokesperson Ann Stefanek declined to comment on ongoing litigation and how it may affect how the service handles religious accommodation requests. Navy officer sues DOD, Navy leaders over COVID vaccine - Navy Times COVID-19 vaccines are proven to be very safe and effective at preventing COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths. 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. Court Delivers Win to Military Members Denied Religious Exemptions From Pentagon Vaccine Mandate, SCOTUS 101: Student Loans and Major Questions, Unpacking the Oral Arguments Against Bidens Student Loan Cancellation, Appeals Court Steals Show on ERA Amid Senate Panels Bid to Resurrect Dead Amendment, the Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments. 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. Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth said in the press release that the service is still, however, encouraging vaccinations. There was no indication when the judges would rule. 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. Military's COVID-19 vaccine mandate lifted, but litigation lingers More:Dark money group targets Oklahoma Gov. There is no military exclusion from our Constitution. The free exercise of religion, even in the military, it triggers the strongest protection available in the law.. Service members file lawsuit over Pentagon's coronavirus vaccine Pfizer and Modernas mRNA products used cells replicated from a fetus aborted in the 1970s to make sure the vaccines worked in human cells. The plaintiffs argue that violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the First Amendment. "This guidance is a promise of what the Air Force is saying it will do," Bruns told Military.com. How large is the class? The Florida case began with a Navy and Marine Corps officer in 2021, but has soon ballooned to 36 plaintiffs from all military branches as well as some civilian Defense Department employees. The Florida filing also spends much more time on the biographies of the complainants. U.S. Pushes Back Against Military Vaccine Mandate Lawsuit Also missing from the lawsuits are any new religious conversion, or simply the possibility that they were previously unaware of the role of replicated fetal stem cells in pharmaceutical development, that would explain why they never objected to any vaccines or medications before. Trident Order #12 also implemented the COVID-19 vaccine mandate at the command level for Naval Special Warfare forces, setting a deadline of compliance for October 17, 2021," the SEALs' legal team .
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