Judge Rejects Oklahoma's Lawsuit over Guard Vaccine Mandate

[Sherman A1]

OKLAHOMA CITY -- A federal judge in Oklahoma on Tuesday ruled against the state in its lawsuit challenging the vaccine mandates for members of the Oklahoma National Guard in a dispute that is the first critical test of the military's authority to require National Guard troops to get the shot.

U.S. District Judge Stephen Friot denied Oklahoma's request for a preliminary injunction, saying the claims by Gov. Kevin Stitt, Attorney General John O'Connor and 16 anonymous Oklahoma National Guard members were without merit.

"The vaccine mandate to which the governor objects is the one -- in addition to the nine that already apply to all service members -- intended to protect service members from the virus which has, in less than two years, killed more Americans than have been killed in action in all of the wars the United States has ever fought," Friot wrote. "The court is required to decide the case on the basis of federal law, not common sense. But, either way, the result would be the same."

Stitt and O'Connor have been outspoken critics of vaccine mandates, even for military members, and have filed numerous lawsuits challenging such federal mandates.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2021/12/29/judge-rejects-oklahomas-lawsuit-over-guard-vaccine-mandate.html

[Duncanpup]

1. This scares me

Regardless these people are soldiers and no room for politics in military.

[Effete Snob]

2. Actual order here

This was, incidentally, a ruling on a motion for a preliminary injunction, not a final order in the case.

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.okwd.116005/gov.uscourts.okwd.116005.41.0.pdf


The article posted in the OP misleadingly suggests the quoted portion had anything to do with the decision.

In actual fact, the motion for a preliminary injunction was denied because the State of Oklahoma does not have standing to bring the suit on behalf of the National Guard members in that state.

There is a great fare thee well at the end, though:

Having denied the motion, the court cannot but note the potential consequences, for individual Guard members, of failure to comply with the vaccine mandate. Those consequences range (among other possibilities) from loss of periodic
pay to involuntary separation from the Guard. Loss of one or two paychecks is one
thing, serious though that may be in individual cases. What the court cannot ignore
is the potentially devastating effect of involuntary separation (either as a result of
direct action or as a result of continuing loss of pay), especially where, as appears to
be the case here, the individual non-compliant Guard members did not have the benefit of well-informed leadership at the highest level of the Oklahoma Guard. The
court strongly urges the defendants to give every consideration to providing a brief
grace period–to facilitate prompt compliance with the vaccination mandate–before
directly or indirectly taking action which would end the military careers of any Oklahoma Guard members.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

3. GREAT NEWS: Judge Stephen Friot said Oklahoma's attempt was "without merit,"

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