When I meet my maker, Im going to be held responsible for the decisions Ive made, and Id much rather go to prison, Stapanon testified in March. By Bethany Blankley (The Center Square) Military leaders will testify on Tuesday before the Military Personnel Subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee about the impact of the Department of Defense's COVID-19 vaccine mandate on DOD employees and military service members. So everywhere else in society has been able to figure this out, but our military hasnt because they take such an iron fisted, draconian approach to everything. They argue that their. Jared Serbu: Yeah, theres a ton. Judge Matthew McFarlands decision brings the case, Doster v. Kendall, closer to trial as a class-action lawsuit. For the Texas case, its more likely those sailors will receive religious exemptions, but that they wont necessarily change the way the military mandates vaccines or reviews exemptions. The lawsuit also fails to mention an established precedent regarding vaccines in religious traditions. Military service members have. Mike Barry:Well, First Liberty Institute represents nine Air Force members who are challenging the Air Forces enforcement of its vaccine mandate. msn back to msn home news Skip To Navigation Because how do you avoid getting to the point where anyone can deny or refuse any lawful order by claiming that they have a sincerely held religious belief that would be encumbered by it? Feb. 23, 2023. But what we cant do is say, well, because they ruled this way, in this case, this is how theyre going to rule in all cases. In December, the Air Force announced it had discharged 27 people for refusing to get the COVID . And theyre discriminating against people in the military. In response to Military.com stating that the COVID-19 "vaccines have some rare side effects, including heart inflammation that has affected at least 22 service members, according to a study from the JAMA Network," an attorney working with U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin, and whistle blowers in the U.S. military are pushing back against . This piece originally appeared in The Daily Signal. The judge agreed, issuing an injunction against discipline for the sailors on Jan. 3. Troops who refuse mandatory COVID-19 vaccines will likely also face courts-martial for the same offense, said Zaid, who represented Task & Purpose in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit to force . All of the military services have released vaccine refusal policies, none of them involving judicial or non-judicial charges for simply staying unvaccinated. Nearly 1,500 more people are exempt for medical or administrative reasons, such as severe allergic reactions or upcoming retirement. On Friday, President Joe Biden signed the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2023, which repeals the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for service members. Subscribe on PodcastOne or Apple Podcasts. Already, a soldier and Marine have filed a lawsuit arguing that service members who have already recovered from COVID-19 and therefore have natural immunity should be exempt from vaccine mandates, according to the Army Times. President Joe Biden signed the. Telling Plaintiffs they must accept or receive a shot they oppose according to their sincerely held religious beliefs, or face court martial, dishonorable discharge, and other life altering disciplinary measures, disgraces the sacrifices these heroes have made, according to the lawsuit. Similar to the Navy, the Marine Corps is no longer stopping unvaccinated Marines from deployments. 3 min read POINT PLEASANT, NJ A U.S. Marine from Point Pleasant who was discharged. Sarah Parshall Perry is a senior legal fellow for the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation. More than 60 service members have joined lawsuits against the U.S. government, alleging that the military's process for awarding religious vaccine exemptions is a sham. Dr. Lee Merritt, a self-described Navy surgeon, stated during an . Hes one of the attorneys representing the airmen challenging the mandate, and he spoke more to Jared Serbu on theFederal Drive with Tom Temin. "This vaccine mandate is unlawful and does not reflect the Land of the Free," said General O'Connor. The decision sets the stage for a future trial or, possibly, the case winding its way up to the Supreme Court. This means that you do not need to prove that your injury was caused by a doctor or the vaccine company's mistake. Theyre not following their own regulations. There is no verifiable evidence that COVID-19 vaccines have killed, or will kill, more military personnel than the disease itself. Those records are supposed to be cleared by March 31, according to the guidance. Only the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is manufactured using fetal cell lines. Jared Serbu: This case seems remarkably similar to another case that I think First Liberty was also counsel on with a group of Navy SEALs before the very same judge, I believe too. Yes, many of them have brought that and its a rubber stamp rejection, he said. Their objections to the vaccine fall into one of four categories, according to their complaint, including opposition to abortion and the use of fetal cell lines in pharmaceutical development, belief that body modification violates their religious principles, direct, divine instruction not to receive the vaccine, or declining to inject trace amounts of animal cells into ones body.. The story seems pretty similar to whats going on with these airmen. Theres yet another lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the militarys COVID-19 vaccine mandate. Is there any assurance on the record, that there will be no deployment decisions based on vaccination? Judge James Ho, one of three judges hearing the case asked Department of Justice lawyer Casen Ross. The complaint also brings up the issue of Food and Drug Administration licensure. It took four years and was licensed in 1967. Mike Barry:No, I think what happens is they become much smaller cases, right? Staver believes the Florida case case has a good chance of making it to the Supreme Court, potentially invalidating all government mandates for COVID-19 vaccination. Pope Francis has called vaccination against COVID-19 a moral obligation and an act of love., Frequently people let themselves be influenced by the ideology of the moment, often bolstered by baseless information or poorly documented facts, he said in January, adding that vaccines are not a magical means of healing, yet surely they represent, in addition to other treatments that need to be developed, the most reasonable solution for the prevention of the disease.. All the things that, you know, that the Navy was doing to harass and punish sailors we basically wanted that to all stop, Mike Berry, a former Marine judge advocate and now vice president at First Liberty Institute, which represents the Texas plaintiffs, told Military Times on Wednesday. 1:51:01 Awkward Andrea Mitchell lectures MSNBC reporter about using term "pro-life" 2:09:32 Baby "chop shop" FOIA lawsuit. In the Navy, none of more than 4,000 religious exemptions had been approved, but there were about 252 temporary and 11 permanent medical exemptions. Just three days later, he issued a far more sweeping order granting 4,095 service members a religious exemption from the COVID vaccine. And really, the greatest harm here is not just to our members of the military who are suffering under this, but its actually to our nation. I dont think that the precedent is going to be that big of one, Griffin, the former Coast Guard lawyer, said. OConnormade note of thisin his order, calling the process for seeking a religious exemption nothing more than theater, stating that the Navy merely rubber-stamps each denial, and stressing that the record overwhelmingly demonstrates that the Navys religious-accommodation process is an exercise in futility.. Each week, Defense Reporter Jared Serbu speaks with the managers of the federal government's largest department. Everyone who joins the military must receive a slate of several vaccines to enter, including chickenpox, rubella and hepatitis A. Mike Barry is senior counsel at First Liberty Institute, a nonprofit legal group that focuses on religious liberty issues. We took a very intentional approach of maintaining a laser-like focus on religious liberty, because we believe that that is the strongest legal basis, he said. Members face the same injury: violation of their constitutional freedom by defendants clear policy of discrimination against religious accommodation requests, wrote McFarland, of the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of Ohio. Pfizer and Modernas mRNA products used cells replicated from a fetus aborted in the 1970s to make sure the vaccines worked in human cells. Ryan Bruce, a Marine Corps spokesman, told Military.com. WASHINGTON (AP) The military services are still reviewing possible discipline of troops who refused the order to get the COVID-19 vaccine, defense officials told Congress on Tuesday, and they provided few details on how many of those who were forced out of the military would like to return. Theyll accept that alternative and say, okay, you know, Im willing to do that instead. Plaintiffs sincerely held religious beliefs that their bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit and that they are to glorify God with their bodies lays the foundation for everything they do, consume, or inject into their bodies, according to the Florida lawsuit. They argue that their 1st Amendment rights are being infringed upon, because their sincerely held religious beliefs prevent them from receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. This disparity of treatment between medical and religious exemptions was constitutionally prohibited,Judge Reed OConnor said. So thats usually unwise, and so practitioners who are in front of the Supreme Court frequently like us, we usually know not to do that. Mike Barry: Probably not at the Supreme Court level. More:Dark money group targets Oklahoma Gov. Mike Barry:Well, I mean, thats the beauty of the way that the law works, right? Two Eglin Air Force base officers are among the plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit challenging the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for U.S. military personnel. But although the Air Force has approved hundreds of medical and administrative exemptions, they have only approved a very small handful of religious exemptions and even the ones that theyve approved by their own admission, they are only for Air Force members who are basically already separating or are already on their way out. Same thing on airplanes, right? The Marine Corps confirmed to a California congressman that two of those Marines were preparing to leave the service, while another one is doing a Training With Industry assignment. Researchers cultivate these cells for generations, using their derivatives to create or test all manner of pharmaceutical products. Copyright 2023 Hubbard Radio Washington DC, LLC. For OConnor, the violation ofthe lawwas clear: Defendants have substantially burdened Plaintiffs religious beliefs. And in some cases, according to some reports, its even more durable than the vaccine and you dont have to get boosters and things like that. I think one of the militarys concerns is whats the limiting principle here? Each of those shots also involves cell tissue derived from fetuses, as does one version of the rabies vaccine. The Supreme Court is reviewing a legal shield that tech companies have long relied on to avoid liability for content on their platforms. And at least in the Starbucks is that Ive been in recently where theyve been packed in like sardines. Religious freedom laws are set up to avoid a circumstance where the Navy, or the military or the government, is doing a faith test, to determine whether or not you really believe what youre supposed to believe, Griffin said. The temporary restraining order means the military cannot punish airmen and Space Force guardians whose application for a religious exemption to one of the federally endorsed vaccines was denied or is still being processed. Jared Serbu: Mike, thanks for being here. A dozen U.S. Air Force officers have filed a lawsuit . The Catholic Churchs policy on derived fetal cells has been clear for decades: the sin of abortion is so far removed in pharmaceutical development that a Catholic is not violating any principles by getting vaccinated. The latest data from the military show that roughly 30,000 active-duty service members remain unvaccinated against COVID-19, despite a Defense Department mandate issued in August and deadlines. More than 800 unvaccinated service members have been ousted from the Air Force so far. It cost millions to recruit, train new troops being booted for vaccine refusal, Dishonorable discharges for COVID vaccine refusal off the table as military separations begin, Officer faces court-martial for refusing mask mandate, COVID test, Ex-soldier, a neo-Nazi, gets 45 years for plot to ambush his own unit, Issues with the Armys Europe-based equipment trigger readiness alarms, Veterans Affairs drops mask requirement for all agency medical offices, How the Marine Corps is preparing for era of contested logistics, Tax scams How to report them Money Minute, Capitol Hill weighs action on two controversial topics: medical marijuana and abortion, Lockheed wins hypersonics contract | Defense Dollars, Go inside a secret nuclear fallout bunker sealed for decades, Perennial pilot shortage puts Air Force in precarious position, Pentagon again denies helping Ukraine attack targets inside Russia.
Wsaz News Cast, Fake Doctors, Real Friends Peloton, Takedown Shotgun Case, Articles C