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 of religion only if it demonstrates that burden is (1) in furtherance of a compelling governmental interest; and (2) is the least restrictive means of furthering that interest. For O’Connor, the violation of the law was clear: Defendants have substantially burdened Plaintiffs’ religious beliefs. The government burdens religion when it ‘put[s] substantial pressure on an adherent to modify his behavior and to violate his beliefs.’ That is especially true […]
