COMMENTARY BY Mineman 3rd Class Daniel Kern stands topside rover watch on the flight deck aboard the USS Charleston during a visit to Apra Harbor, Guam, on December 16, 2021. Key Takeaways While it allowed service members to apply for religious exemptions to the mandate, it has not granted a single one. This disparity of treatment between medical and religious exemptions was constitutionally prohibited, Judge Reed O’Connor said. In one of many ongoing federal lawsuits challenging COVID-19 vaccine mandates across the country, Judge Reed O’Connor of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas issued a group of Navy SEALs and Naval Special Warfare personnel a resounding victory Jan. 3 in U.S. Navy SEALs 1-26 v. Biden. In his order, O’Connor granted an injunction against the Biden administration and the Department of Defense, preventing them from enforcing the vaccine mandate against any of the named service members who had applied for a religious exemption. O’Connor ruled that the blanket denial of their religious waiver requests amounted to a violation of the service members’ rights under the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act . Under that law , the government may substantially burden a person’s exercise […]
