Commander relieved after Judge Sides with Navy SEALS, Flames Biden, DOD

UPDATE

Navy Commander Robert Alan Green Jr. has been removed from his Command after the Judge sided with the Navy SEALS. Although the Navy would never admit the reprisal, the move by the Commanders is seen as retaliation for the SEALS’ win in the courts.

“Effective immediately CDR Green is no longer XO of MSRON EIGHT. He has been reassigned TAD to MESG2 while a vaccine waiver works its way through the system. CDR Green leaves huge shoes to fill, he was a professional who did excellent work and his presence and professionalism will be difficult to replace……” the Memo of Green’s demotion read.

“On January 7, Capt. Jeffrey Grant, commodore, Maritime Expeditionary Security Group Two (MESG-2), relieved Cmdr. Robert Green, executive officer, Maritime Expeditionary Security Squadron Eight, for loss of confidence in his abilities to perform his duties,” a Navy spokesperson told LifeSiteNews asking for clarification about the demotion. “Green has been reassigned to Maritime Expeditionary Security Group Two. ”

The Judge who sided with the SEALS in the ruling stated:

“Our nation asks the men and women in our military to serve, suffer, and sacrifice. But we do not ask them to lay aside their citizenry and give up the very rights they have sworn to protect.1 

“Every president since the signing of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act has praised the men and women of the military for their bravery and service in protecting the freedoms this country guarantees.2

“In this case, members of the military seek protection under those very freedoms. Thirty- five Navy Special Warfare servicemembers allege that the military’s mandatory vaccination policy violates their religious freedoms under the First Amendment and Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The Navy provides a religious accommodation process, but by all accounts, it is theater. The Navy has not granted a religious exemption to any vaccine in recent memory. It merely rubber stamps each denial. The Navy servicemembers in this case seek to vindicate the very freedoms.

“They have sacrificed so much to protect.3 The COVID-19 pandemic provides the government no license to abrogate those freedoms. There is no COVID-19 exception to the First Amendment. There is no military exclusion from our Constitution.

“Having considered the briefing, oral argument, relevant facts, and applicable law, the Court concludes that Plaintiffs’ Motion for Preliminary Injunction should be and is hereby GRANTED.

“In addition. Commander Green filed a complaint as had the 24 Navy SEALS who pled their case before the House and Senate earlier.

Members of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees
From: Commander Robert Alan Green Jr., U.S. Navy
Subject: Report of Navy-Endorsed Violations of Law, Regulation, and Constitutional Rights

Encl: (1) Article 1150 Complaint of Wrong Against Vice Admiral Nowell for Unlawful
Religious Discrimination, submitted by CDR Robert A. Green Jr. on 23 December 2021

(2) DCNO (N1) Standard Operating Procedure for Religious Accommodations Nov 2021

I am an active duty U.S. naval officer and hereby submit this report under the Military Whistle- blower Protection Act (10 U.S.C. § 1034) to share my internal Navy complaint, enclosure (1), which documents multiple violations of law, regulation, and constitutional rights. These violations are being committed by Navy leadership against military service members who express sincere religious beliefs that preclude them from receiving a COVID-19 vaccination.

I received the Navy’s standard operating procedure (SOP) for processing religious accommoda- tions, enclosure (2), after the document was made public by another whistleblower. The SOP was drafted by the Navy’s Manpower, Personnel, Training, and Education Office, which is led by Vice Admiral John Nowell. The SOP outlines the process for systematically denying COVID-19 religious accommodation requests, and provides proof of religious discrimination and multiple violations of regulation and constitu- tional rights. The SOP has been utilized by Vice Admiral Nowell and his staff to process the surge in religious accommodation requests following the Secretary of Defense’s vaccine order of 24 August 2021. On 23 December 2021, I filed a complaint against Vice Admiral Nowell, enclosure (1), for his use of this unlawful and discriminatory process. My complaint was filed as an exhibit in the U.S. NAVY SEALs 1-26, et al., v. BIDEN, et al., federal court case in the Northern District of Texas that very afternoon. The evidence I provided in my complaint proved to be a crucial element in the case and was referenced multiple times by Judge O’Connor in his ruling, which granted a preliminary injunction to the plaintiffs on 3 January 2022.

In his ruling, Judge O’Connor stated “[t]he Navy provides a religious accommodation process, but by all accounts, it is theater.” Additionally, he highlighted policy inconsistencies, pointing out that the Navy has granted exemptions to the vaccine mandate for a wide range of secular reasons, but insists on 100% vaccination or disciplinary action for all service members seeking religious accommodation. This is clearly discriminatory and a violation of the Constitution, federal law, and military regulation.

Despite Judge O’Connor’s ruling, it appears the Navy intends to continue this discriminatory denial process. The Navy has proven incapable of policing itself. Therefore, I am requesting your involvement to ensure the free exercise of religion in the Navy, and throughout the military. Please demand accountability of our senior naval leaders for their unlawful actions and join in the call for an immediate end to religious discrimination in our military. The defense of our Nation requires that service members are free to serve without fear of discrimination or retaliation for faithfully adhering to the dictates of their conscience.

R. A. GREEN JR CDR USN In his COMPLAINT, he described the process:

2

U.S. NAVY SEALs 1-26, et al., § § Plaintiffs, § §

v.

§ JOSEPH R. BIDEN, JR., et al., § § §

ORDER ON PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION

Having considered the briefing, oral argument, relevant facts, and applicable law, the Court concludes that Plaintiffs’ Motion for Preliminary Injunction should be and is hereby GRANTED.

I. BACKGROUND

This case arises from the United States Navy’s mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy. Plaintiffs are thirty-five Navy Special Warfare servicemembers, including SEALs, Special Warfare Combatant Craft Crewmen, Navy Divers, and an Explosive Ordinance Disposal Technician. Compl. 1, 8–9, ECF No. 1. Together, they sue President Biden, Secretary of Defense Austin, Secretary of the Navy Del Toro, and the United States Department of Defense.

A. Factual Background
1. The Navy’s Vaccination Policy

In August 2021, the Department of Defense (“DoD”) issued a vaccine mandate directing all DoD servicemembers to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Pls.’ App. 146–47, ECF No. 17. The Department of the Navy also implemented its own mandate requiring all active-duty Navy servicemembers to be fully vaccinated before November 28 or face the “full range” of disciplinary action. Pls.’ App. 149–50, ECF No. 17. For servicemembers assigned to Special Operations duty,the Navy’s vaccination policy reads:

[Special Operations] personnel refusing to receive recommended vaccines . . . based solely on personal or religious beliefs are disqualified. This provision does not pertain to medical contraindications or allergies to vaccine administration.

Manual of the Medical Department (“MANMED”) § 15-105(3)(n)(9); Pls.’ App. 838, ECF No. 17. In addition to those with medical exemptions, “[m]embers who are actively participating in COVID-19 clinical trials are exempted from mandatory vaccination” until the trial concludes. Pls.’ App. 149–50, ECF No. 17.

For those with pending religious exemption requests, being “disqualified” means becoming permanently nondeployable.4 Unlike those with medical exemptions and allergies to the vaccine, an unvaccinated servicemember seeking a religious exemption (the “religious servicemember”) continues to be nondeployable, even if he receives the accommodation he requests. Pls.’ App. 159, 838 (Trident Order 12 – Mandatory Vaccination for COVID-19), ECF No. 17. To regain his“deployable” status, the religious servicemember must first receive his religious accommodation, and then seek a medical waiver under the Navy’s MANMED. Defs.’ App. 278, ECF No. 44-3.

Each of these steps, by themselves, is monumental. Religious exemptions to the vaccine requirement are virtually non-existent. In the past seven years, the Navy has not granted a religious exemption to any vaccine requirement. Pls.’ App. 295, ECF No. 17.

2. Plaintiffs’ Religious Accommodations Requests

By early November, 99.4% of active-duty Navy servicemembers had been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Pls.’ App. 284, ECF No. 17. Plaintiffs are part of the remaining 0.6%. Representing the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant branches of Christianity, Plaintiffs object to receiving the COVID-19 vaccine based on their religious beliefs. Id. These beliefs fall into the following categories: (1) opposition to abortion and the use of aborted fetal cell lines in

development of the vaccine;5 (2) belief that modifying one’s body is an afront to the Creator;6 (3) direct, divine instruction not to receive the vaccine;7 and (4) opposition to injecting trace amounts of animal cells into one’s body.8 Plaintiffs’ beliefs about the vaccine are undisputedly sincere, and it is not the role of this Court to determine their truthfulness or accuracy. See Davis v. Fort Bend Cnty., 765 F.3d 480, 478 (5th Cir. 2014) (citing United States v. Ballard, 322 U.S. 78, 86 (1944)).

Plaintiffs filed their religious accommodation requests as early as August and as late as December. See Supp. Decl. of SEALs, SWCC, EOD, ND, Supp. App. 1023–1134. In many cases, the Plaintiffs’ commanding officers recommended their requests be approved. See Supp. Decl. of SEAL 18, Supp. App. 1075; Hr’g Test. of SEAL 3. Even so, as of December 17, the Navy has summarily denied at least twenty-nine of the thirty-five accommodations requests, the majority of which have been appealed. Supp. Decl. of SEALs, SWCC, EOD, ND, Supp. App. 1023–1134. The Navy has made no final determinations on appeal.

To adjudicate a religious accommodation request, the Navy uses a six-phase, fifty-step process. See Supp. Decl. of Andrew Stephens, Ex. 1, ECF No. 62. Although “all requests for accommodation of religious practices are assessed on a case-by-case basis,” Phase 1 of the Navy guidance document instructs an administrator to update a prepared disapproval template with the requester’s name and rank. Id. Based on this boilerplate rejection, Plaintiffs believe that this process is “pre-determined” and sidesteps the individualized review required by law. Id. FOR THE FULL INJUNCTION READ HERE