Thread by @808constituent

US DISTRICT COURT
ORDER OF PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION *Granted*
U.S. NAVY SEALs et al., v. JOSEPH R. BIDEN, JR., et al.
Ruling on the military #VaccineMandate Judge Reed O'Connor agrees with the plaintiffs on their religious rights, Biden dismissed from case.
(quotes to follow 🧵1/x

“Our nation asks the men and women in our military to serve, suffer, and sacrifice.
But we do not ask them to lay aside their citizenry and give up the very rights they have sworn to protect.
In this case, members of the military seek protection under those very freedoms...” 2/x

Thirty-five Navy Special Warfare service members (SEALS) allege that the military’s mandatory vaccination policy violates their religious freedoms under the First Amendment & Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
3/x

The Navy provides a religious accommodation process, but by all accounts, it is theater
The COVID-19 pandemic provides the government no
license to abrogate those freedoms
There is no COVID-19 exception to the 1st Amendment
There is no military exclusion from our Constitution
4/x

“Unlike those with medical exemptions and allergies to the vaccine, an unvaccinated servicemember seeking a religious exemption (the “religious servicemember”)
continues to be nondeployable, even if he receives the accommodation he requests.”
5/x🧵

“To regain his “deployable” status...[they] must first receive religious accommodation,and then seek a medical waiver...
Each of these steps, by themselves, is monumental.
6/x🧵

“Religious exemptions to the vaccine requirement are virtually non-existent. In the past seven years, the Navy has not granted a religious exemption to any vaccine requirement.
7/x 🧵

“Citing Newdow v. Roberts, Defendants argue this Court lacks jurisdiction to enjoin the President...
This Court has no declaratory or injunctive power against President Biden, and he is therefore DISMISSED as party to this case
8/x 🧵

- Mindes v. Seaman, applies
- passes Threshold
- the four Mindes factors weigh in favor of justiciability.
- Plaintiffs are likely to succeed on the merits
9/x🧵

“Plaintiffs allege that the vaccine mandate substantially burdens their religious exercise without satisfying the compelling interest required under RFRA...
Plaintiffs must decide whether to lose their livelihoods or violate sincerely held religious beliefs.
10/x🧵

“Moreover, the Navy is willing to grant exemptions for non-religious reasons. Its mandate includes carveouts for those participating in clinical trials and those with medical contraindications and allergies to vaccines.
11/x🧵

“Indeed, underinclusiveness... is often regarded as a telltale sign that the government’s interest in enacting a liberty-restraining pronouncement is not in fact
‘compelling.’”
BST Holdings, LLC v. Occupational Safety & Health Admin. (5th Cir. 2021).
12/x🧵

“Plaintiffs argue that the Navy’s mandate triggers strict scrutiny, because it is not neutral or generally applicable...
The Court finds that for the same reasons Plaintiffs succeed on their RFRA claim, they also prevail on their First Amendment claim
13/x SEALs v Biden 🧵

🧵SEALs v Biden 🧵
“Plaintiffs face a substantial threat of irreparable harm...In some cases, Plaintiffs have suffered injury because they seek religious accommodation”
14/x

Military separation is not irreparable harm.
“...But because these injuries are inextricably intertwined with Plaintiffs’ loss of constitutional rights, this Court must conclude that Plaintiffs have suffered irreparable harm.”
15/x

Plaintiffs have suffered the more serious injury of “infringement of their religious liberty rights under RFRA and the First Amendment...”
The crisis of conscience imposed by the mandate is itself an irreparable harm. ”
16/x SEALs v Biden 🧵

“The loss of First Amendment freedoms, for even minimal periods of time, unquestionably constitutes irreparable injury.”– Elrod, 427 U.S. at 373
17/x

“The Plaintiffs’ loss of religious liberties outweighs any forthcoming harm to the Navy.
Even the direst circumstances cannot justify the loss of constitutional rights.
18/x SEALs v Biden 🧵

For the reasons stated, the Motion for Preliminary Injunction is GRANTED.
19/x SEALs v Biden 🧵END🧵
cdn.locals.com/documents/4765…
“The crisis of conscience imposed by the mandate is itself an irreparable harm.¨