WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court ruled Monday that the Pentagon could take disciplinary action against a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force Reserve who refused to be vaccinated against coronavirus for religious reasons.
The brief, unsigned court order does not state the reasons, which is common when judges act on urgent requests. The three most conservative members of the court – Judges Clarence Thomas, Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Neil M. Gorsuch – disagreed, but did not explain their views.
The court ruling, a temporary measure that denies relief while appeals continue, followed a similar decision last month, which said the Navy could consider the vaccination status of 35 of its servicemen when deciding where to deploy or located. The same three judges disagreed.
In the new case, Lt. Col. Jonathan Dunn, who was removed from command after serving nearly two decades as a pilot, instructor and commander, said he was only seeking “protection against further punishment, including discharge”.
Colonel Dunn, who received many other vaccinations without objection, said he decided the coronavirus vaccine had broken his faith after seeing President Biden talk about what led him to conclude that “the vaccine has ceased to be just medical intervention and acquired a symbolic and even sacramental quality. “
This, he said, was “similar to ancient Roman laws requiring sacrifices to be offered to Caesar.”
He added that he had been infected with the virus and had developed antibodies as a result.
Elizabeth B. Prelogar, the Attorney General of the United States, told the judges that the Air Force had determined in its military decision, “that vaccination of servicemen is an essential component of military readiness and is crucial to protecting the health and safety of servicemen.”
She added that Colonel Dunn had shown poor judgment, which justified his removal from command for reasons beyond his refusal to be vaccinated.
After being ordered to choose between vaccination, resignation, or written waiver of the vaccine, Colonel Dunn instead sent a one-word memorandum to a two-star general, a few steps above him in the chain of command: “NUTS! NUTS!”
The note was repeated by Brig. The famous response of General Anthony McAuliff to a request for the surrender of Germany in 1944 during the Battle of the Inflated. Colonel Dunn’s lawyers told the judges that he used the term “to show determination, not disrespect.”
His immediate commander disagreed, saying the message was a “strong disrespectful insult to the chain of command”, indicating a “shocking lack of military decency”. Ms. Prelogar noted that the American officer who brought the message to General McAuliff added an explanation. “If you don’t understand what ‘Nuts’ means in plain English, it’s the same as ‘Go to hell,'” he said.
Ms Prelogar added that Colonel Dunn’s unit must be prepared to deploy anywhere in the world as soon as possible, including in countries that require proof of vaccination to enter.
She noted that the military had long required vaccinations, beginning in 1777, when George Washington ordered the Continental Army to be inoculated against smallpox. By the beginning of 2021, she writes, nine vaccines are needed for all servicemen.
In August, the defense ministry said it would add the coronavirus vaccine to the list. According to court documents, 98 percent of the air force has been vaccinated.
The Supreme Court has historically been cautious about second-sentence military sentences.
In other areas, however, the Biden administration has had mixed success defending its responses to the pandemic in court. Another part of her efforts came to fruition Monday when a federal judge in Florida lifted the requirement for federal masks for planes, trains, buses and other public transportation.
If the case goes to the Supreme Court, the administration will still face an audience that has been skeptical of some mandates. In January, judges blocked the administration from imposing a vaccination or testing mandate on large employers, although they allowed a more limited mandate requiring health workers in federal-funded facilities to be vaccinated. And last year, the court rejected the administration’s moratorium on evictions.
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