The Supreme Court said it won’t get involved in a military vaccine mandate challenge brought by a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force Reserve who declined to be vaccinated against COVID-19 for religious reasons.
In an unsigned order, justices gave no reasons for their refusal to take the case, which is common in response to emergency requests. Three Republican-appointed members, Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch, gave their dissent but did not explain their decisions, according to court records.
The court’s order stands as an interim measure that denies relief while the plaintiff’s appeals proceed. Lt. Col. Jonathan Dunn was removed from his command following nearly two decades of service as a trainer and commander, arguing he was seeking “protection against further punishment, including a discharge.”
SUPREME COURT BLOCKS ORDER ON DEPLOYMENT OF NAVY SEALS WHO REJECTED COVID-19 VACCINE
The Justice Department’s Solicitor General, Elizabeth Prelogar, said the Air Force had determined “that vaccination of service members is an essential component of military readiness and is critical to protecting the health and safety of service members.”
Last month, a similar ruling came down from the high court, blocking a lower court order that prevented the Navy from regulating the deployment of 35 Navy SEALs and other special operations forces who declined to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. The same three conservative-leaning justices dissented.
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President Joe Biden‘s administration, along with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, have asked the high court on several occasions to turn down lawsuits disputing the military’s vaccine policies, calling the previous request by special operations forces an “unprecedented intrusion into core military affairs” that had “no precedent in American history.”
Despite numerous setbacks by military plaintiffs seeking relief from vaccine mandates, the high court in January blocked the administration’s workplace vaccine-or-test mandate but upheld the Department of Health and Human Services requirement for certain healthcare workers.
