Administrative Law: Servicemember Vaccination Requirements-Denial of Religious Exemptions-Preliminary Injunctive Relief

Plaintiffs, a group of servicemembers in the Air Force, Air Force Reserve, and Air National Guard, appealed the denial of their motion for preliminary injunctive relief. The USAF required all servicemembers to receive COVID-19 vaccines, subject to certain exemptions. Plaintiffs filed suit, challenging the denial of their requests for religious exemptions from the vaccination requirement. Plaintiffs sought preliminary injunctive relief barring the Air Force from discharging them or denying them career or training opportunities.

Where plaintiffs became members of a certified class in another case in Ohio that granted them the injunctive relief they sought in the present case, the court dismissed the appeal as moot.

Stras, J., concurring: “The 2023 Defense Authorization Act required the Secretary of Defense to ‘rescind the mandate that members of the Armed Forces be vaccinated against COVID-19.’ James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023, Pub. L. No. 117-263, § 525, 136 Stat. 2395, 2571 (2022). The Air Force discontinued the practice shortly thereafter, which means the plaintiff-airmen do not need relief from a mandate that no longer exists. I would not say anything more.”

Appeal is dismissed.

Roth v. Austin (MLW No. 79602/Case No. 22-2058 – 10 pages) (U.S. Court of Appeals, 8th Circuit, Colloton, J.) Appealed from U.S. District Court, District of Nebraska, Buescher, J. (Kris William Kobach, of Lecompton, KS for appellants; Rachel Louise Jag, of Washington, D.C.; Jessica Hart Steinmann, of Conroe, TX; Craig William Trainor, of Washington, D.C.; and Pamela Jo Bondi, of Washington, D.C. on the brief) (Casen Ross, of Washington, D.C. for appellees; Daniel Winik, of Washington, D.C. and Sarah Jane Clark, of Washington, D.C. on the brief)