Airmen's religious exemption appeal of COVID-19 vaccine mandate is moot

The U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals (whose rulings cover Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota employers) recently issued a decision in a case from Nebraska, which highlighted and clarified the current state of the law regarding COVID-19 vaccination mandates for members serving in the Armed Forces of the United States.

Although the appeal of the decision of the U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska was deemed moot, the history of this class action lawsuit summarizes and highlights a few issues surrounding the religious exemption from COVID-19 vaccination mandates. Let’s examine this recent decision.

Background

In August of 2021, the Secretary of Defense added the COVID-19 vaccine to the list of vaccines that were required for all members of the military, subject to certain exceptions, including a religious exemption. Any unvaccinated service members were restricted to mission-critical travel and couldn’t be deployed.

The Air Force implemented a multistep process to address a request for a religious exemption from the vaccine requirement. This involved a written request to the Unit Commander, and a subsequent meeting with a military chaplain, a military physician, and the Unit Commander. The chaplain then determined whether receiving the COVID-19 vaccine would substantially burden or violate the service member’s sincerely held religious beliefs.