A federal court that blocked the punishment of 35 U.S. Navy service members seeking religious exemptions to the military’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate should widen the ruling to cover any Navy personnel seeking an exception, lawyers said in a Jan. 24 filing.
The complaint in the case, U.S. Navy SEALs 1–3 et. al v. Lloyd Austin et. al, was amended to a class-action effort. That means the judge presiding over the case could widen the block of the mandate to the nearly 4,000 Navy active-duty or reserve members who are seeking religious exemptions.
