Federal Appeals Court Rules Favorably for Thousands of Air Force Service Members

Written by Jorge Gomez

This week, a federal appeals court issued a favorable ruling impacting thousands of military service members. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit upheld an injunction protecting U.S. Air Force service members from being punished or involuntarily terminated from the military for requesting religious accommodations to the vaccine mandate. Importantly, this protects First Liberty’s own Senior Counsel Danielle Runyan, a member of the Air Force Reserve, whose religious accommodation request was denied.… Continue Reading

Military Officials Keep Punishing Religious Service Members

Written by Jorge Gomez

A federal judge recently issued a temporary order preventing disciplinary action against two officers who requested a religious accommodation to the military vaccine mandate.

Judge Steven Merryday—serving on the District Court for the Middle District of Florida—strongly rebuked the military’s approach to religious accommodation requests. His order stated:

“The military is well aware of the frailty of their arguments in defense of their practices… The two service members are very likely to prevail on their claim that their respective branch of the military has wrongfully denied a religious exemption from COVID-19 vaccination.