A federal district court in Texas is temporarily blocking the U.S. Department of Defense from punishing nearly three dozen Navy SEALs and other special forces for refusing COVID-19 vaccines due to religious objections. The Navy all active-duty service members to get vaccinated by Nov. 28 or face disciplinary action.
"The Navy service members in this case seek to vindicate the very freedoms they have sacrificed so much to protect," wrote U.S. District Judge Reed O鈥機onnor in his issued Monday.
Reed also noted the Navy had not granted exemption requests for any vaccine requirements based on religious grounds for several years.
鈥淭he COVID-19 pandemic provides the government no license to abrogate those freedoms," the judge wrote in his 26-page decision.
The lawsuit filed by the religious freedoms legal group, , alleges the service members faced a range of disciplinary actions for refusing the vaccine, including court martial and disqualification from deployment.
The institute鈥檚 general counsel Mike Berry explained the lawsuit does not challenge the vaccine mandate itself, but the federal government鈥檚 categorical denial of all requests for religious exemptions.
鈥淲hile they allow for medical and administrative exemptions [to the vaccine mandate], they do not allow for any religious exemptions for the vaccine,鈥� he said. 鈥淥ur argument was that that violated the First Amendment to the Constitution and it violates the federal law, the .鈥�
Berry said the religious objections raised by his clients varied, including beliefs against having cells or materials injected into their bodies that alters the intention of their divine creator.
According to the court filings, more than 99% of active-duty Navy service members have been vaccinated against COVID-19.