A federal judge barred the Department of Defense from punishing a group of Navy SEALs for refusing to get vaccinated on religious grounds.
District Judge Reed O’Connor granted a preliminary injunction on Monday in response to a lawsuit filed for 35 unnamed Navy SEALs who had sued the Biden administration in November, alleging they had received several disciplinary measures for seeking a religious exemption.
“The Navy service members, in this case, seek to vindicate the very freedoms they have sacrificed so much to protect,” O’Connor wrote in a filing on Monday. “The COVID-19 pandemic provides the government no license to abrogate those freedoms. There is no COVID-19 exception to the First Amendment. There is no military exclusion from our Constitution.”
At the heart of the lawsuit is Secretary Lloyd Austin’s vaccination mandate for the coronavirus, and whether he has the authority to issue the order. He gave each branch the power to come up with their own policy surrounding the vaccine.
The SEALs allege that they faced a range of disciplinary measures, including being administratively separated from vaccinated colleagues or dismissed, the initial lawsuit claims.
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The SEALs expressed opposition to the vaccines based on the sincerely held belief that aborted fetal cells were used to develop the vaccine, the belief that “modifying one’s body is an affront to the Creator,” and “direct, divine instruction not to receive the vaccine,” the ruling states.
Fetal cell lines are used in the development of vaccines, but the cells typically used are from an aborted fetus three decades ago, experts report. They’re also the same cell lines used in the development of many common drugs, including aspirin and ibuprofen.
Of the 35 named in the suit, 19 had filed requests for a religious exemption, only to have it denied by the Navy, the federal judge wrote.
“The Navy has not granted a religious exemption to any vaccine in recent memory,” O’Connor wrote. “It merely rubber stamps each denial.”
As of Dec. 17, the military has not approved a single religious exemption to the COVID-19 vaccine, even as more than 12,000 service members sought one. Each service branch is overwhelmingly vaccinated and those who have refused remain a tiny percentage, though the number is in the thousands given the sheer size of the military. The branches have already begun discharging those who have failed to comply with the order and have either not applied for or been denied an exemption.
O’Connor also argued that the threat of spreading COVID-19 among the Navy’s sailors is not sufficient to justify denying the sailors their First Amendment rights.
“The Plaintiffs’ loss of religious liberties outweighs any forthcoming harm to the Navy. Even the direst circumstances cannot justify the loss of constitutional rights. Fortunately, the future does not look so dire. Nearly 100% of the Navy has been vaccinated,” O’Connor wrote.
Dozens of Republican lawmakers filed an amicus brief in support of the SEALs last month while the America First Policy Institute, a policy group backed by former President Donald Trump, did in November.
First Liberty Institute, the religious freedom legal organization representing the 35 SEALs in the Northern District of Texas, declared the ruling a victory.
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“Forcing a service member to choose between their faith and serving their country is abhorrent to the Constitution and America’s values,” First Liberty general counsel Mike Berry said in a written statement. “Punishing SEALs for simply asking for a religious accommodation is purely vindictive and punitive. We’re pleased that the court has acted to protect our brave warriors before more damage is done to our national security.”
A representative from the Defense Press Office said that the Pentagon is “studying the decision,” while the Navy declined to comment about the “ongoing litigation matters.”
