Majority of court sides with Pentagon over challenge by lieutenant colonel who cited religious grounds for refusal to get vaccine
Highlights
- Lt Col Jonathan Dunn cited religious grounds for his refusal to get the Covid-19 vaccine.
- He cited a speech given by Joe Biden that led him to conclude that “the vaccine ceased to be merely a medical invention and took on a symbolic and even sacramental quality” The court ruled in March that the US navy had the authority to determine the job assignments of 35 service members who refused to get vaccinated.
- Three justices in the conservative majority – Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch – dissented.
- The ruling was merely the court’s latest on challenges to vaccine mandates.
- In January, the court blocked a Biden administration requirement that employees of large businesses be vaccinated and wear masks on the job