U.S. judge blocks punishment of Navy SEALs who refused vaccine

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

U.S. judge blocks punishment of Navy SEALs who refused vaccine

Jan. 4, 2022, 1:42 AM -04 / Updated Jan. 4, 2022, 7:59 AM -04
By Reuters

A federal judge on Monday barred the U.S. Department of Defense from punishing a group of Navy SEALs and other special forces members who refused COVID-19 vaccines on religious grounds.

U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor, acting in response to a lawsuit filed on behalf of 35 special forces service members, issued a preliminary injunction blocking the Navy and Defense Department from enforcing the mandate.

O'Connor, who was appointed to the federal bench in Texas by President George W. Bush, said the Navy had not granted a single religious exemption to the vaccine rule.

“The Navy servicemembers in this case seek to vindicate the very freedoms they have sacrificed so much to protect. The COVID-19 pandemic provides the government no license to abrogate those freedoms,” the judge wrote in a 26-page decision.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/us-judge-blocks-punishment-navy-seals-refused-vaccine-rcna10822

[aocommunalpunch]

1. Dismiss them.

End this fucking bullshit already.

[mitch96]

15. Yup, blackwater or some other merc group will hire them in a heartbeat...

Trained on our dime and exploited by the military industrial complex...uff
m

[burrowowl]

2. Ignorant judge

[nykym]

3. Fine

send them on NO MISSIONS.
Relegate them to menial tasks
In other words make their time uncomfortable.

[FarPoint]

6. Discharge them all

End of military problem..

[JT45242]

4. BS decision -- states in their contract they have to take any fully approved vaccine

After the Tuskegee incident and issues with Gulf War vaccines, the military policy is that troops can only be forced to take vaccines fully approved by the FDA. No more secret experimental vaccines, only full fledged approved vaccines. This is why the military waited for the vaccines to move from EUA to fully approved to make the decree.

This decision is violation of military law, contract law, and standard legal precedent with vaccine mandate decisions that are over 100 years old.

[former9thward]

12. The contract does not say that.

Anyone in the military can request exemptions from an approved vaccine. It could be for health reasons, religious reasons or administrative reasons (planned separation from service within 180 days).

The link is the navy's form for religious exemptions:

https://www.mynavyhr.navy.mil/Portals/55/Reference/MILPERSMAN/1000/1700Morale/1730-020%20.pdf

[Historic NY]

5. Violated good order and displine

of the service by some hack judge

[NurseJackie]

7. Religious grounds, my ass.

[sinkingfeeling]

8. What next? Inductees can skip all vaccines? How can the US

require people coming in from other countries be vaccinated?

Why have any rules, regulations, or laws at all?

[mn9driver]

9. This judge is the go-to judge for right wing activists.

He has a long history of nonsense rulings like this. He will eventually be reversed on appeal.

[uponit7771]

10. Damn, I wish justice was more blind in the US

[Midnight Writer]

11. How many conscientious objectors went to prison for refusing to go into combat?

How many were arrested for defying the draft?

How many service members have been arrested or dismissed for refusing to obey orders?

It seems there is plenty of precedent for requiring service members to be vaccinated.

There is no precedent of a religious exemption for service members who refuse vaccinations.

[former9thward]

13. Wrong on your last sentence

This is the Navy's form for religious exemptions to a vaccine.

https://www.mynavyhr.navy.mil/Portals/55/Reference/MILPERSMAN/1000/1700Morale/1730-020%20.pdf

[Midnight Writer]

14. Well, hush my mouth.

Though I notice the waiver can be revoked by the commanding officer if applicant is in imminent danger of catching disease.