The Department of Defense inspector general has already raised concern that Joe Biden’s shot mandate policy violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). Some in Congress are finally waking up and are demanding an inquiry into the Coast Guard’s denial of religious exemptions. This week, Liberty Counsel returned to federal court against the Biden administration!

We were the first to challenge Biden’s unlawful abuse of religious freedom. Our clients never pay for our legal services. Few could afford to take on the federal government.

Help us defend freedom. Our Challenge Grant will DOUBLE THE IMPACT of your gift. Then, read on for an update on this vital litigation. — Mat

Alicia* entered the U.S. Coast Guard with an allergy waiver premised upon her previous allergic reactions to vaccines. While in the Coast Guard, Alicia has been exempted from taking vaccines, including for smallpox and flu.

Her medical waiver and lack of vaccinations has never impacted her service or her promotions. By all accounts, Alicia has been a respected member of the Coast Guard community throughout her service.

That all changed when Joe Biden’s shot mandates came down. The Commandant of the Coast Guard, Admiral Linda L. Fagan, announced her position in no uncertain terms—all service members under her command will be “100% vaccinated. Period.”

That means no exceptions whatsoever—not for Alicia’s long-recognized medical need for a shot exemption, and certainly not for religious reasons.

In a meeting that addressed the Coast Guard’s COVID vaccination policy, Admiral Fagan stated that even the pope had endorsed the shots, and implied that both she and the Coast Guard therefore found no legitimacy to any religious exemption request.

Somehow the commandant decided the pope is the arbiter of all religious doctrine, and that the Coast Guard can be his enforcement arm.

Admiral Fagan continued to detail the many ways the Coast Guard was finding to “encourage” service members to get the shot. That “encouragement,” however, looked a lot like unlawful compulsion.

The admiral detailed how non-shot takers would be denied assignments and pay, discharged and stripped of even their 9/11 benefits to force compliance. Admiral Fagan added that “many more restrictive guidances for unvaccinated members would be forthcoming.”

I first wrote to you about Alicia’s plight exactly one year ago. Her situation has not changed. Joe Biden’s Department of Defense (DOD) will kick Alicia and all other religious-exemption-requesting Coast Guard members out of the military in just 10 days—unless Liberty Counsel can win a classwide injunction.

Some members of Congress are finally waking up to the Biden administration’s shocking lawlessness. In an official letter dated October 18, Republican members of the House Oversight Committee demanded that USCG Commandant Fagan explain herself and the unlawful policy of denying every religious accommodation request.

The Oversight Committee’s letter noted that the USCG’s methodology indicates a clear “goal of rejecting applications."

One of our plaintiffs said it feels like the USCG “just ran our requests through a digital 'choose your own adventure' that always landed on 'denied.'"

Our plaintiff is right. The USCG developed a digital tool designed to automatically “reject the applications and appeals” regardless of the merits of each case. This is patently abusive. And we intend to stop it.

The Pentagon knows this is a huge problem. They just refuse to change their unlawful policies.

In June 2022, DOD Inspector General (IG) Sean O'Donnell wrote in a memo to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin that "[w]e found a trend of generalized assessments rather than the individualized assessment that is required by Federal law and DoD and Military Service policies."

Despite this damning IG finding, Biden’s DOD continues its quest to kick every faithful religious adherent out of the military.

Unvaccinated religious exemption requesters in the U.S. Coast Guard will be FIRED from their jobs in just 10 days unless Liberty Counsel can win an injunction protecting them from Joe Biden’s lawlessness.

We need YOUR help in fighting this maniacal administration that seems intent on running Christians out of the U.S. military.

Don’t let Biden run people of faith out of the military!

Help us fight this travesty in court before it is too late!

You can help us through our Challenge Grant that will DOUBLE the impact of your gift. Please, give generously today.

We have not seen such anti-freedom tyranny in our lifetime. Please pray our team can overcome these evil mandates.

Mat Staver
Founder and Chairman
Liberty Counsel

P.S. Want to do more? Fax Congress now and tell them to END THE MANDATES!

*Name has been changed for privacy.

Sources:

Lee, Michael. “Pentagon Rushed to Deny Service Members' Vaccine Religious Exemption Requests: Report.” Fox News, September 20, 2022. Foxnews.com/us/pentagon-rushed-deny-service-members-vaccine-religious-exemption-requests-report.

“U.S. Coast Guard Members Seek Class Relief from Shot Mandate.” Liberty Counsel, July 28, 2022. Lc.org/newsroom/details/072822-us-coast-guard-members-seek-class-relief-from-shot-mandate.

“U.S. Coast Guard Members Seek Class Relief From DOD Shot Mandate.” Liberty Counsel, October 18, 2022. Lc.org/newsroom/details/101822-us-coast-guard-members-seek-class-relief-from-dod-shot-mandate.

“U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.” Accessed October 18, 2022. Republicans-oversight.house.gov/.