CBS NEWS EXCERPTS:
(1) "The group of Christian Navy personnel, including SEALs, Special Warfare Combatant Craft crewmen, divers and an explosive ordnance disposal technician, brought their case against President Biden"
(2) "U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor called the Navy's religious accommodations process for its vaccination policy "theater" and said it "rubber stamps each denial" for a religious exemption."
(3) Judge Reed O'Connor: "The COVID-19 pandemic provides the government no license to abrogate those freedoms. There is no COVID-19 exception to the First Amendment. There is no military exclusion from our Constitution."
(4) O'Connor wrote in his orders that the Navy service members are likely to succeed in pursuing their claims that the vaccine mandate is unconstitutional and in violation of federal law. "The plaintiffs' loss of religious liberties outweighs any forthcoming harm to the Navy," he wrote. "Even the direst circumstances cannot justify the loss of constitutional rights." O'Connor called the Navy's religious accommodation process an "exercise in futility" and said the service members "need not wait for the Navy to rubber stamp a constitutional violation before seeking relief in court."
(5) Mike Berry, general counsel for First Liberty Institute, which is representing the Navy personnel, praised the district court's order and called punishment by the service for seeking a religious accommodation from the vaccine mandate "purely vindictive and punitive." "Forcing a service member to choose between their faith and serving their country is abhorrent to the Constitution and America's values," he said in a statement.
