Legal Insurrection by Leslie Eastman Wednesday, August 24, 2022
Federal Judge Slams Defense Dept. and Marine Corps, Grants Class-Action Status in Vaccine Mandate Case
Order delays court-martial for Japan-based Marine.How It Started: The Department of Defense dutifully enacted Biden’s vaccine mandate and had what eventually morphed into “zero tolerance” policies for service members requesting religious exemptions or who had already had COVID19.
How It’s Going:
U.S District Court Judge Steven Merryday issued a blistering rebuke of the Department of Defense and Marine Corps for refusing to grant religious accommodation requests to service members.
Merryday did so when issuing a 48-page ruling Thursday in which he granted class-action status for all active and reserve U.S. Marine Corps service men and women in a lawsuit filed against the Secretary of Defense over the department’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
He also issued a classwide preliminary injunction against the Department of Defense and the U.S. Marine Corps, prohibiting them “from enforcing against a member of the class any order, requirement, or rule to accept COVID-19 vaccination; from separating or discharging from the Marine Corps a member of the class who declines COVID-19 vaccination; and from retaliating against a member of the class for the member’s asserting statutory rights under RFRA [Religious Freedom Restoration Act].”
More:
https://legalinsurrection.com/2022/08/federal-judge-slams-defense-dept-and-marine-corps-grants-class-action-status-in-vaccine-mandate-case/
