A group of military chaplains is asking the Supreme Court to stop the Department of Defense from enforcing policies that it says punish those who filed religious objections to the COVID-19 vaccine mandate. (Jon Cherry/Getty Images)
The petition alleges that the DOD has not removed "adverse personnel actions" — unfavorable measures such as poor fitness reports that may affect promotions and result in other consequences — from the chaplains' files. The petition contends that the adverse personnel actions occurred due to the chaplains' religious accomodation requests (RAR).
"These Chaplains’ careers are dead men walking, direct consequences of filing RARs but hidden by DOD’s emphasis on ‘solely’ as the adverse action’s cause," the filing states.
The chaplains filed exemptions that requested they be excused for religious reasons from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s mandate that all service-members receive a COVID-19 vaccine.
The chaplains took up the lawsuit "when it became obvious DOD was denying all RARs, using that process to purge those who believed in following their faith-formed conscience by requesting RARs," the court document states.
The American flag attached to the American military uniform. (iStock)
According to the filing, the Defense Department removed some related disciplinary documents but made false assertions that all "adverse actions" had been removed from the files of those requesting religious exemptions.
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"It has not removed the ‘adverse personnel actions’ such as bad fitness reports causing failures of promotion, missed schooling, or the consequences thereof," the chaplains' petition states. "DOD’s numerous retaliatory ‘adverse actions’ against these Chaplains violate the law, breeding ‘contempt for law and inviting every man to become a law unto himself.' That invitation has no place in DOD."
A spokesperson for DOD said it does not comment on pending litigation.
Fox News' Shannon Bream, Bill Mears, Liz Friden and David Spunt contributed to this report.
Brianna Herlihy is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.
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https://www.foxnews.com/politics/military-chaplains-appeal-supreme-court-over-covid-19-policies-forced-religious-objectors-out