The Supreme Court has stepped in to freeze a lower court order that would have forced the Navy to deploy special operations troops who are still waiting on decisions for their religious exemption claims to the COVID-19 vaccination.
The decision means that while those special operations forces, which includes more than two dozen Navy SEALS, continue to challenge the mandate in the courts they will not be deployed or punished, CNN reported.
The dissenting votes came from conservative Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch.
Justice Alito, on behalf of himself and Justice Gorsuch, said that they did believe that the Navy had a “compelling interest” in preventing Covid-19 infection from “impairing its ability to carry out its vital responsibilities” but that it’s “summary rejection” of requests for religious exemptions was by “no means the least restrictive means” for furthering its interests.
The dissenters said that the challengers “who have volunteered to undertake demanding and hazardous duties to defend our country” had been treated “shabbily” by the Navy.
But conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh sided with the majority and said he saw “no basis” for employing the “judicial power in a manner that military commanders believe would impair the military of the United States as it defends the American people.”
Challengers in the case – including more than two dozen Navy SEALs – say they have religious objections to the vaccine mandate and are seeking an exemption.
A district court ruled against the Biden administration, and a federal appeals court declined to step in, saying that it had not demonstrated “paramount interests” that justify vaccinating the plaintiffs in violation of their religious beliefs.
The administration did not challenge a portion of the injunction that protected SEALs and other personnel from discipline or discharge for remaining unvaccinated.
But the administration wanted the justices to block a part of the ruling requiring the Navy to assign and deploy 35 unvaccinated members of special operations forces while the appeals process plays out.
Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar told the justices in court papers that the Navy has informed her that it has already been forced to send one of the challengers to Hawaii for duty on a submarine “against its military judgment.”
It is not the first time that Justice Kavanaugh has disappoint conservatives. In January, after another case involving vaccine mandates, Fox News host Tucker Carlson referred to him as a “cringing little liberal.”
Carlson was upset at Kavanaugh for joining Chief Justice John Roberts and the high court’s three liberal justices in upholding President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate for healthcare facilities that accept federal Medicare and Medicaid payments.
In a segment with Harmeet Dhillon of the Center for American Liberties, Carlson chimed in after she called the ruling “unfortunate…given the massive shortage that we have of healthcare workers right now in our hospitals.”
“With no help from Brett Kavanaugh, I notice. Cringing little liberal,” Carlson quipped before adding that he wouldn’t have Dhillon comment on his remark before asking whether democracy still exists in the U.S.
Other conservatives took to social media to express their angst over the supposedly ‘conservative’ high court’s ruling regarding their decision to leave the healthcare worker mandate in place.
“The Supreme Court rightly held Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate via OSHA illegal and unconstitutional. It was never well-founded in science or law,” Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) wrote on Twitter, before taking a verbal shot at President Biden.
“It was disappointing to see Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh join the Court’s liberals to uphold a mandate that targets health care workers. America’s businesses should forget these mandates faster than Joe Biden forgets his daily schedule,” he added.