 |
| Yiannis Kourtoglou/Reuters |
The Supreme Court granted an emergency request from the Defense Department on Friday, temporarily freezing a lower-court ruling that required the Navy to deploy unvaccinated Navy SEALs.
The high court’s order temporarily blocks part of a January ruling by a federal judge in Texas that prevented the department from considering vaccination status in deployment decisions involving Navy special forces operators who sought a religious exemption.
The federal judge had sided with 26 members of the Navy SEALs and nine other special operations forces personnel who argued they are eligible for a religious exemption to the vaccine mandate because of the First Amendment. The Biden administration argued the lower court ruling usurped the Navy’s authority to deploy the servicemembers and execute missions.
The new order means the Navy can limit deployment and training of the group of SEALs and special operations forces personnel. U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor also prohibited the Navy from enforcing the vaccine mandate against the 35 servicemembers involved in the suit, though the administration did not ask the Supreme Court to immediately lift that part of the order. --->READ MORE HERE
 |
| Photo: EMILY ELCONIN/REUTERS |
The Supreme Court sided with the Biden administration Friday in a dispute with Navy personnel who defied orders to vaccinate against Covid-19 on religious grounds. Three conservative justices dissented.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin added Covid-19 to the mandatory inoculation list for service members in August, after the Food and Drug Administration gave final approval to the first vaccine against the novel coronavirus.
As with other mandatory vaccines, service members can request exemptions for medical, religious and other reasons, but those filed by 35 members of the Naval Special Warfare Command, including some two dozen commandos known as Seals, were denied.
The service members sued, asserting religious-exercise rights under federal law, and in January a federal district judge in Fort Worth, Texas, issued a preliminary order preventing the Pentagon from taking action against the personnel.
“Our nation asks the men and women in our military to serve, suffer, and sacrifice. But we do not ask them to lay aside their citizenry and give up the very rights they have sworn to protect,” U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor wrote.
The service members, who belong to different Christian denominations, asserted various objections: “(1) opposition to abortion and the use of aborted fetal cell lines in development of the vaccine; (2) belief that modifying one’s body is an affront to the Creator; (3) direct, divine instruction not to receive the vaccine; and (4) opposition to injecting trace amounts of animal cells into one’s body,” Judge O’Connor wrote. Those beliefs “are undisputedly sincere,” and courts had no business determining “their truthfulness or accuracy,” he wrote. --->READ MORE HEREFollow links below to relevant/related stories and resources:
Pandemic Caused Black and Latino Students to Cancel their College Plans at a Disproportionate Rate
More houses of worship are reopening, but attendance is flat, new survey shows
USA TODAY: Coronavirus Updates
WSJ: Coronavirus Live Updates
YAHOO NEWS: Coronavirus Live Updates
NEW YORK POST: Coronavirus The Latest
If you like what you see, please "Like" and/or Follow us on FACEBOOK here, GETTR here, and TWITTER here.
No comments:
Post a Comment