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. 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. Right? So thats usually unwise, and so practitioners who are in front of the Supreme Court frequently like us, we usually know not to do that. 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? Well, what if somebodys not really sincere? 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. Military service members have. 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. Other service members have struck out on their own to fight the mandate. Just because of the just incredibly political nature of, of all of it, from the virus to the vaccine to the mandates, Marshall Griffin, a retired Coast Guard judge advocate who now practices privately, told Military Times on Monday. 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. The Department of the Air Force, which also issues guidance for the Space Force, has detailed it will be rescinding letters of admonishment, counseling or reprimand; records of individual counseling; nonjudicial punishments; and current involuntary discharge proceedings connected to vaccine refusal. Sarah Parshall Perry is a senior legal fellow for the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation. 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. ), the Washington Post, and others. I know, off the top of my head, the number in the Navy is somewhere near 4,100. 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. FILE - Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin speaks during a briefing at the Pentagon in Washington, Nov. 16, 2022. 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, in fact, the Department of Defense allows medical exemptions and administrative exemptions from the vaccine. Rabies shots are required only for some service members in certain career fields. OConnormade note of thisin his order, calling the process for seeking a religious exemption nothing more than theater, stating that the Navy merely rubber-stamps each denial, and stressing that the record overwhelmingly demonstrates that the Navys religious-accommodation process is an exercise in futility.. Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine was developed and cleared for emergency use in eight months a fact . And thats why this is a sham.Jared Serbu: The Air Force case is a putative class action. None of the plaintiffs clarify whether they engage in any other behavior that might be seen as a desecration of that temple, whether its alcohol, drugs, unprotected sex or in the case of the Old Testament tattoos and piercings. Theyre usually willing to accept that and say, look, yeah, Im happy to. Biden appointee behind unlawful military vaccine mandate to step down. 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. 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. Religious freedom laws are set up to avoid a circumstance where the Navy, or the military or the government, is doing a faith test, to determine whether or not you really believe what youre supposed to believe, Griffin said. But the administration won at least a temporary, partial victory last March when the Supreme Court approved a partial stay. The order allowed the Navy to consider the sailors vaccination status in making decisions on deployment, assignment and other operational issues while the case plays out. The lawsuit, in which 14 men and two women serving in the military are named as plaintiffs, names U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, three U.S. military service secretaries and other. Hubbard Radio Washington DC, LLC. 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. Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth said in the press release that the service is still, however, encouraging vaccinations. And youll see headline after headline talking about the recruiting and retention woes that plague our military right now. 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? "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. And I have yet to hear of a single flight being canceled because there was a COVID outbreak at 30,000 feet. Please contact Susan Rushkowski at publicfiledc@hubbardradio.com or (202) 895-5027. 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. 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. 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. Our military, I mean, you can open any news feed that you want. From this foundation they make studied and reasonable decisions about what is good and what is not good or may not be good for their bodies.. The Air Force Department had received more than 12,000 religious exemption requests, denying over 3,000 of them and with roughly 2,000 still in adjudication. 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. 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. Kevin Stitt has pushed back on the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for the military that would apply to the Oklahoma National Guard. The military's COVID-19 vaccine was repealed after the National Defense Authorization Act passed and was signed into law this month. As part of the exemption process, service members are required to meet with a chaplain to work through their concerns. "Marines will defer to Combatant Command policies regarding deployments.". 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. Subscribe on PodcastOne or Apple Podcasts. The same day the Pentagon set the deadline for the services, several of the branches -- namely the Army and Air Force -- began issuing their guidance, which stated they would remove or correct adverse actions in records related to vaccine refusal. 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. 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 . 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. 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,. 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 latest lawsuit challenging DoD's COVID-19 vaccine mandate says the Air Force's process makes religious accommodations almost impossible to get. Court documents show that two plaintiffs in Doster v. Kendall took the two-dose Covaxin vaccine, created in India, to comply with the Pentagons requirement. The Supreme Court is reviewing a legal shield that tech companies have long relied on to avoid liability for content on their platforms. Dr. Lee Merritt, a self-described Navy surgeon, stated during an . Right? Yes, many of them have brought that and its a rubber stamp rejection, he said. 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. New family, former Corvias employee join lawsuit against Fort . 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. The quickest vaccine ever developed was for mumps. 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. Were going from a 50-step process to a zero-step process? Duncan asked. But it may not take a lawsuit for the issue to change the environment when it comes to mandatory vaccination. 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. 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. 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. If the court certifies the class does the class become all unvaccinated airmen or everyone whos been denied a religious exemption? 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. And well be back week after week.. The Navy has, however, granted medical exemption requests submitted by other personnel. Night shifts arent popular, especially on Friday night, and things like that. In the filing, attorneys argue that the plaintiffs are facing criminal conviction and dishonorable discharge, which would strip them of any veterans benefits. 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. Im happy to take that one from you. Produced by Will Reid , Rob Szypko . They are, theyre ignoring the law, theyre ignoring the Constitution. The government has since filed a notice that it plans to appeal the decision. Jared Serbu: Mike, thanks for being here. 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. 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. Plaintiffs, therefore, do not object to safety measures that reduce the transmission of COVID-19 in the workplace, it reads. The complaint also brings up the issue of Food and Drug Administration licensure. 3 min read POINT PLEASANT, NJ A U.S. Marine from Point Pleasant who was discharged. Mike Barry: I think theres almost 30 now. Theyre not following their own regulations. You got a preliminary injunction in that case and a favorable ruling from the Fifth Circuit. 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 . The Navy comes in second with a total of 469 separations, which includes 50 this past week. Researchers cultivate these cells for generations, using their derivatives to create or test all manner of pharmaceutical products. Members of the U.S. military who haven't been vaccinated against COVID-19 are starting to face the consequences. Follow him on Twitter @TomNovelly. 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. A dozen U.S. Air Force officers have filed a lawsuit . Johnson & Johnson uses cells replicated from a fetus aborted in 1985 to produce its vaccine, but those cells are filtered out from the final product. To date, no members of the Army or Space Force have received a religious exemption, though nine airmen and three Marines have been approved. The latest data from the military show that roughly 30,000 active-duty service members remain unvaccinated against COVID-19, despite a Defense Department mandate issued in August and deadlines. However, in a strange turn of events, while Bolsonaro was eating Mickey Mouse-shaped pancakes in Orlando, a group of Bolsonaristas (supporters of Bolsonaro) attacked the Brazilian Supreme Court, Congress, and Presidential Palace in Brasilia and called for a military coup.Lula blamed Bolsonaro personally for the attacks; Moraes quickly moved to suspend Brasilia's governor and security chief . And our clients are, theyre stationed in various locations, quite a few of them are here in Texas. There is no military exclusion from our Constitution. The prospect of dishonorable discharges has been a concern for some against vaccine mandates, but that type of discharge can only be handed down through a court-martial conviction. 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The Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines do not need fetal cell lines for development or production but were tested on fetal cell lines replicated from a fetus aborted in the 1970s to ensure their efficacy. About 97% of the Department of the Air Force is fully vaccinated, though a larger share of active duty airmen and guardians have gotten the jab compared to their Guard and Reserve counterparts. Thats really prohibited by the by the courts considering these types of cases. The military across the board is discriminating discriminating against people of faith. 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. 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 problem here is that the government is simply unwilling to offer any compromises. This whole thing is really unprecedented, right? And to say, basically, no, you will do this because we said so and if you dont, were gonna kick you out.

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