by Madeleine Hubbard at Just the News
The U.S. Department of Defense will no longer be able to punish any Navy service member who has religious objections to the department’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate following a ruling Monday in a Texas district court.
The Northern District of Texas District Court expanded its decision from January into a class action lawsuit for all Navy service members, not just the Navy SEALs who originally brought the case forward. The ruling means that the Department of Defense is unable to punish any Navy service members who requested a religious accommodation to the vaccine mandate.
“Our clients are boldly leading the fight against the vaccine mandate, but no service member should face discipline or punishment for following their faith,” said First Liberty Institute’s Director of Military Affairs Mike Berry in a press release. His organization led the lawsuit on behalf of the SEALs.
“The purge of religious servicemembers 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 for service members with sincere religious objections to the vaccine,” Berry said.
As of last week, the Navy has yet to fully approve a single religious accommodation request out of the more than 4,000 filed.
The judge called the Navy’s approval process “theater” in his ruling, First Liberty noted.
“Here, the potential class members have suffered the ‘same injury,’…
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