Another lawsuit has been filed by religious objectors challenging the military's COVID vaccine mandate. Brought in a Texas federal district court by nine members of the Air Force as a class action on behalf of all Air Force members with religious objections to the COVID vaccine, the complaint (full text) in Spence v. Austin, (ND TX, filed 5/27/2022), alleges violations of plaintiffs' rights under the 1st Amendment and RFRA. It alleges in part:
Defendants have mandated that all members of the Air Force receive a COVID-19 vaccine, or be involuntarily separated. In theory, Defendants offer medical, administrative, and religious accommodations to that mandate. But in practice, only servicemembers with medical or administrative reasons for an exemption from the mandate are accommodated. Religious accommodation requests (“RARs”) are universally denied unless the requester is already imminently leaving the Air Force.
First Liberty issued a press release announcing the filing of the lawsuit.
