Judge blocks Pentagon from taking 'any adverse action' against sailors who have refused vaccine
Category: News & Politics
Via: vic-eldred • 2 years ago • 41 commentsBy: BY MYCHAEL SCHNELL
A judge on Monday blocked the Pentagon from taking “any adverse action” against Navy sailors who have refused to get vaccinated against COVID-19 for religious reasons.
A group of 35 Navy Special Warfare service members — including SEALs, special warfare combatant craft crewmen, divers and an explosive ordnance disposal technician — filed a lawsuit challenging the Navy’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate on Nov. 9, contending that the Navy’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate breached their religious freedom.
Judge Reed O’Connor of the Northern District of Texas noted in his ruling that the Navy denied at least 29 of the 35 religious accommodation requests. He said of the religious accommodation process, “by all accounts, it is theater,” adding that the branch “merely rubber stamps each denial.”
“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,” wrote O’Connor, who was appointed by then-President George W. Bush.
“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,” he added.
The lawsuit named President Biden , Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin , Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro and the Pentagon.
The Pentagon told The Hill that it is studying the decision, referring questions to the Justice Department “as this matter involves litigation.” The Hill reached out to the Justice Department for comment.
The Navy required all active-duty sailors to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by Nov. 28, or else face potential discharge. Last month, the branch announced that it had given commanders guidance to move forward with issuing administrative separations for service members who did not get vaccinated.
Sen. Ted Cruz reacted to the ruling on Twitter, writing “This is a major win!”
We have a narrow pool of eligible volunteers that the US military draws from. I heard a military analyst, just last night say that we might be hard pressed to deploy 100,000 men, tops. The worst threat the US faces is the demoralization of the US Army, Navy, Marines, and Air Force by the Biden regime.
So maybe this judge is right. We shouldn't be casting Pearls to the wind for some political objective. Speaking of political, could Sen Ted Cruz be making another run at the Presidency?
That will happen when you retreat from a combat area to only have to go back in because your Coward in Chief left $500.000 in military equipment and hundreds of US Citizens there.
Oh and we can't forget the hundreds of Afghani civilians killed and the 13 dead service members that resulted in that catastrophe.
Ya, I'm sure that has left a bad taste in the mouths of our service members.
Bad taste is an understatement. Not only for the service members but Vets as well.
Do you think Joe Biden cares about those who serve?
It's obvious that he doesn't, [deleted]
I tend to agree. As I recall Obama seldom listened to military advisors.
I suffered through Obama. No pay, no funding for training or repair parts, going back to Iraq (with the addition of Syria to the area of operations)...
So I've heard.
"More than half of troops surveyed in the latest Military Times/Institute for Veterans and Military Families poll said they have an unfavorable opinion of Obama and his two-terms leading the military."
General Stanley McChrystal, fired despite being an Obama loyalist for engaging in diarrhea of the mouth about Obama in front of a Rolling Stone reporter nonetheless said Obama was “uncomfortable and intimidated” by generals.
However as Greenfield noted, Obama ended up getting his own back on the generals “by transforming them into community organizers.”
General McChrystal said exactly what many of us were (and still are) saying about the Obama administration. And unfortunately, he was fired for it. The Obama policies and political grandstanding did nothing but hurt and nearly cripple the US military.
Signs will do when arguments fail!
Oh what happened to posts 2 & 3?
I thought there would be a crackdown on that stuff?
And now, 6
They promised to crack down on it!
Hey I have a question: How about the next Republican President fires all the current military commanders and promotes some patriots?
And one more thing:
Put the military back in those form fitting uniforms they deserve!
The right to spread highly contagious disease needs to be protected!!
Take it up with the Judge. You do believe in the rule of law? Or is all about Biden trying to make good on a promise?
Judge denies Oklahoma GOP governor's request to block military vaccine mandate (yahoo.com) 12/29/2021
The Pentagons right to determine the rights of the military has been upheld in court over and over again.
O'Connor's ruling basically sanctions mutiny and will not hold up on appeal.
Why are these ignorant shitheads denying a vaccine that could save their lives and others?
Politics.
When you are in the military, (USMC in my experience) you are not asked which vaccines you want or can deny. You line up and walk the gauntlet with your blouse folded over your arms. They hit you in both shoulders as you walk down the line. Refusing the vaccine is insubordination and failure to train and you are discharged.
When you are in the military, Uncle Sam owns your body and you will do as you are told, even if that order is to charge into gunfire and likely die for the good of the squad.
hehe, been there, done that.
We shall see.
It can be a dirty business. What one says as a candidate can cause a lot of problems when one becomes president.
Interestingly, the judge dismissed Biden as a party to the case, so in theory, as Commander in Chief, he could individually order each of these plaintiffs to be vaccinated. I kind of doubt he would do that, though - too provocative.
An interesting point in the decision is the conclusion by the judge that defendants have not demonstrated a compelling government interest with respect to these specific plaintiffs. This is based on the observation that plaintiffs represent 0.6% of the service and probably are no longer much of a threat to overall readiness. And to be fair, if we were considering the general population, we would be pretty happy with a 99.4% vaccination rate. There are a couple of faults with that reasoning here, though.
First is that we have 99.4% compliance now, but if getting a waiver were easy, we would probably be very far from that number. Changing the policy would make it much harder to reach 99.4% in any future vaccination scenario.
Second, it doesn’t take into account the fact that these people are still able to interact with the general population and thus could bring Covid onto any base or ship they might be assigned.
Still, that doesn’t mean the government would win a full hearing on the merits, so I think overall the preliminary injunction is justified. Remember that this isn’t the final disposition of the case.
You give up certain civil rights when you join the military.
Cancun Ted doesn't seem to know anything about the military which is not surprising.
The article is about the Navy so it would seem fitting to have a photo of the Navy.
Are you speaking from experience, Vic?
I have three close relatives on active duty as we speak. The only thing that they are pissed about is dumb fucks that refuse to get vaccinated.
The thing is, nobody is being forced to get vaccinated. They are free to not be vaccinated. They just don’t get to keep their job.
Exactly.
I've had all the shots.
Only because the Navy Seals filed the lawsuit
But the judge ruled on the Navy...So Navy photos would be a lot more accurate.
It's my seed.
So you don't know the difference between the navy and other branches of the military.
I know the difference between a legitimate argument and a silly distraction. If I chose to go down that road I'd be asking you if you thought the judge was saying only the Navy Seals had such rights? That's a bit childish.
I think the Navy Seals differed a bit with your close relatives.
You know what making assumptions does, don't you Vic?
I'm pretty certain that your ideology is still a distinct minority opinion in the US military.
I'm pretty sure that you have no idea, Vic.
And being your guess is only hot air you'll have to explain why 97% of the navy has been vaccinated. That doesn't sound like a distinct minority more like a massive majority
We do have a certain amount of evidence:
.
And being your guess is only hot air you'll have to explain why 97% of the navy has been vaccinated.
Are you now claiming that the vaccinated are democrats? That is really absurd.
Where did you pull that nonsense from? I said nothing of the sort and you know it but nice try at a strawman.
This will be overturned on appeal. In other news:
That's what I used to say when all those Obama judges ruled against the travel ban.