“When we assumed the Soldier, we did not lay aside the Citizen” - George Washington

The Foundation for Moral Law, an Alabama nonprofit organization dedicated to the defense of religious liberty and a strict interpretation of the Constitution as understood by its Framers, filed an amicus brief with the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals Friday on behalf of Navy personnel who were threatened with discharge or discipline because they have religious objections to COVID vaccinations.

The Foundation had previously filed amicus briefs supporting these Navy personnel at the District Court level, as well as in the District Court for the Middle District of Georgia on behalf of an Air Force officer facing similar threats to her career. In both of these cases, as well as in others, lower courts have issued temporary injunctions prohibiting the armed forces from discharging or otherwise disciplining these personnel because of their refusals. The Navy SEALs case is on appeal to the Fifth Circuit, and some of these other cases are also on appeal.

Like the other services, the Navy insists that military necessity requires that all Navy personnel be vaccinated. But the Foundation brief, filed by Foundation Senior Counsel John Eidsmoe and Counsel Talmadge Butts joined by Attorney James J. S. Johnson of the Institute for Creation Research, argues that the Navy has forfeited this argument by granting numerous medical exemptions. As Judge Self, himself a former Army artillery officer, noted in the Air Force officer case, those with medical exemptions and those with religious exemptions have one thing in common: "they're both unvaccinated."

Colonel Eidsmoe, a retired Air Force Judge Advocate and primary author of the brief, explained the Foundation's position: "These soldiers and sailors have pledged their lives to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. They are entitled to the protection of that Constitution. The words of General George Washington are engraved on a marker at Arlington Cemetery: 'When we assumed the Soldier, we did not lay aside the Citizen.'"