Topline
A federal judge in Texas on Monday ruled in favor of 35 U.S. Navy SEALs who sued the Biden Administration over the military’s Covid-19 vaccine mandate, marking the first major successful challenge to the Department of Defense’s vaccine policy.
PYEONGTAEK, SOUTH KOREA - DECEMBER 29: (EDITORIAL USE ONLY) In this handout image provided by United ... [+]
Key Facts
District Judge Reed O’Connor determined the Navy cannot disqualify the plaintiffs, or deem them permanently non-deployable, for refusing to be vaccinated against Covid-19 for religious reasons.
The ruling cited the First Amendment and the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which prohibits government bodies from “substantially burdening a person's exercise of religion even if the burden results from a rule of general applicability.”
O’Connor called the Navy’s process for considering religious accommodations “theater,” and noted the service has not granted a religious exemption to any vaccine requirement in seven years.
The ruling will only apply to the 35 plaintiffs, not the entirety of the military.
The Navy did not immediately respond to Forbes’ request for comment.
Crucial Quote
“There is no COVID-19 exception to the First Amendment,” the ruling stated. “There is no military exclusion from our Constitution.”
Key Background
In August, the Department of Defense mandated the Covid-19 vaccine for all military service members, part of a series of vaccine requirements for federal workers, contractors, healthcare personnel and employees of large companies. The Navy announced in October that all active-duty sailors must be fully vaccinated by November 28, and it said last month it would begin ejecting unvaccinated service members. More than 12,000 military service members were seeking religious exemption from the Covid-19 vaccine as of December 19, according to the Associated Press.
Big Number
99.4%. That’s the percentage of active-duty Navy service members that were vaccinated against Covid-19 as of November, according to the ruling.
Contra
The Navy has argued the vaccine mandate is designed to protect its members’ safety: “Sailors must be prepared to execute their mission at all times, in places throughout the world, including where vaccination rates are low and disease transmission is high,” it said in October.
Tangent
The Supreme Court has rejected several requests to block various Covid-19 vaccine mandates for health care workers, many of which cite religious exemptions.
