From Air Force Officer v. Austin, decided yesterday by Judge Tilman Self III (M.D. Ga.):
"Your religious beliefs are sincere, it's just not compatible with military service." That's about as blunt as it gets.
{This is how Plaintiff's chain of command paraphrased why he thought she was denied a religious exemption from a COVID-19 vaccine. True, he undoubtedly spoke for himself, but when considering the Air Force's abysmal record regarding religious accommodations requests, it turns out he was dead on target.}
Relying on the protections of the First Amendment, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and the Administrative Procedure Act, Plaintiff, a United States Air Force officer, seeks a preliminary injunction to protect her from our military's mandatory COVID-19 vaccination requirement. Although the Air Force claims to provide a religious accommodation process, it proved to be nothing more than a quixotic quest for Plaintiff because it was "by all accounts, … theater." U.S. Navy SEALs 1–26 v. Biden (N.D. Tex. Jan 3, 2022) (O'Connor, J., describing the Navy's religious accommodation process). Despite thousands of requests for religious exemption, the Air Force hadn't granted a single one of them when Plaintiff filed her Complaint. Why? Because until about two weeks ago, apparently no religious exemption from a COVID-19 vaccine was "compatible with military service."
