Federal Judge Blasts Navy for Religious Discrimination, Bars from Punishing 4,000 Sailors Who Objected to COVID Vaccine

A federal judge in Texas has barred the Navy from taking action for now against sailors, most of them Navy SEALs, who have objected to being vaccinated against COVID-19 on religious grounds.

U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor had issued a preliminary injunction in January preventing the Navy from disciplining or discharging 35 sailors who sued over the Navy's vaccine policy while their case played out. 

As CBN News reported, many of the SEALs had already contracted and recovered from COVID-19, while some have had antibodies tests showing that they also had acquired natural immunity. 

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On Monday, Judge O'Connor agreed the case could go forward as a class-action lawsuit and issued a preliminary injunction covering the approximately 4,000 sailors who have objected on religious grounds to being vaccinated.

O'Connor said the larger group of sailors shared common characteristics with those who had sued. They had asked for and been denied an exemption to the vaccine requirement on religious grounds and were facing the threat of being discharged from the Navy.

"Here, the potential class members have suffered the 'same injury,' arising from violations of their constitutional rights. Each has submitted a religious accommodation request, and each has had his request denied, delayed, or dismissed on appeal. Exactly zero requests have been granted. And while Defendants encourage this Court to disregard the data, it is hard to imagine a more consistent display of discrimination. As previously explained in this Court's preliminary injunction order, Plaintiffs have suffered the serious injury of infringement of their religious liberty rights under RFRA and the First Amendment," O'Connor wrote in his decision. 

"Even though their personal circumstances may factually differ in small ways, the threat is the same — get the jab or lose your job," continued O'Connor, who was nominated to the bench by President George W. Bush.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin last year made vaccinations mandatory for service members. More than 99% of the Navy's active duty force has been vaccinated against COVID-19, and the Navy has also discharged 650 people for refusing to be vaccinated. Navy guidelines purportedly allow for exemptions to the vaccine requirement on religious and other grounds, including medical reasons and if a service member is about to leave the Navy.

CBN News previously reported that the directive issued by the Navy stated that if a SEAL declined the vaccine, the military could attempt to recover money that the government has spent on his training. 

Attorneys with First Liberty Institute are representing the sailors who sued. They argue that the Navy had granted hundreds of exemptions for medical and administrative reasons but granted zero religious exemptions for active duty and reserve service members. Nine inactive reserve members have been granted religious exemptions.

"No service member should be punished or driven out of the military for following their faith," said Mike Berry, director of Military Affairs for First Liberty Institute. "The purge of religious service members is not just devastating to morale but it is bringing about about a measurable reduction in readiness that harms America's national security. It's time for our military to honor its constitutional obligations and grant religious accommodations."
  
While the case is still at an early stage, the U.S. Supreme Court in a brief order Friday narrowed the impact of O'Connor's original injunction, saying that the Navy could still consider the vaccination status of the sailors who sued in making deployment, assignment and other operational decisions. O'Connor's latest injunction allows the Navy to consider vaccination status in making those decisions about members of the larger group as well.

Lawyers for the Biden administration had argued that not allowing the Navy to consider vaccination status in making assignments posed "intolerable risks to safety and mission success."

"Navy personnel routinely operate for extended periods of time in confined spaces that are ripe breeding grounds for respiratory illnesses, where mitigation measures such as distancing are impractical or impossible," Biden administration lawyers wrote. "A SEAL who falls ill not only cannot complete his or her own mission, but risks infecting others as well, particularly in close quarters, including on submarines."