Supreme Court Won’t Block Punishment For Air Force Officer Who Refused Covid Vaccine
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Supreme Court Won’t Block Punishment For Air Force Officer Who Refused Covid Vaccine
Credit & Citation:
Zachary Snowdon Smith Forbes Staff
Apr 18, 2022,04:44pm EDT | Updated Apr 18, 2022, 05:30pm EDT
Topline
The Supreme Court Monday denied an Air Force Reserve officer’s request for a preliminary injunction shielding him from punishment for refusing to follow the military’s Covid-19 vaccine mandate, the latest blow to service members seeking vaccine exemptions on religious grounds.
Key Facts
Lt. Col. Jonathan Dunn requested April 11 that the court temporarily prevent the Air Force from discharging or otherwise punishing him because of his refusal to get vaccinated.
Dunn claimed receiving the Covid-19 vaccine has taken on moral overtones and has thus become a religious ritual similar to worshiping a statue—something Dunn says he cannot do because, as a Christian, he “must render worship to God only.”
Dunn’s request for a religious exemption from vaccination was denied November 16, like 99.3% of all religious exemption requests made to the Air Force, and his appeal to the Surgeon General of the Air Force was denied February 8, like 99.8% of appeals.
Dunn said he had been removed from his command while the request for an injunction was pending, but that he did not seek to be reinstated to that position.
Conservative justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch were in favor of granting Dunn’s request for an injunction.
Key Background
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced in August that Covid-19 vaccination would be mandatory for service members to protect the health and effectiveness of the armed forces. As Dunn acknowledged in his injunction request, an overwhelming majority of Air Force members are vaccinated: As of April 12, the Air Force reported 93.9% of its reservists and 96.7% of the branch’s total forces had been fully vaccinated. The Department of Defense has set up a process allowing service members to apply for religious exemptions to this policy, though in practice, nearly all requests are rejected. Additionally, the small number of requests granted have only included airmen near the end of their service, according to a group of Air Force service members involved in a separate lawsuit disputing the branch’s vaccination policies. Though some lower court judges have sided with unvaccinated service members, the Supreme Court has repeatedly blocked attempts to shield them from punishment. Last month, the Supreme Court stayed a lower court ruling preventing the Navy from sidelining SEALs who refused the shot on religious grounds. In that case, as in Dunn’s case Monday, Justices Thomas, Alito and Gorsuch were the only dissenters.
Tangent
All three of the justices who wished to grant Dunn’s injunction request were nominated to the court by Republican presidents. Thomas was nominated by George H. W. Bush, Alito was nominated by George W. Bush and Gorsuch was nominated by Donald Trump.
Big Number
261. That’s how many active-duty airmen have been separated for reasons related to the Air Force’s Covid-19 policies, as of April 12.
Further Reading
“Judge Prevents Air Force From Penalizing Airmen Who Refused Vaccine” (Forbes)
https://www.forbes.com/sites/zacharysmith/2022/04/18/supreme-court-wont-block-punishment-for-air-force-officer-who-refused-covid-vaccine/