Appeals court says Air Force 'wrongly relied' on broad formula to deny religious objections to vax mandate

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The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday upheld an injunction protecting unvaccinated Air Force service members from being punished or involuntarily terminated from the military due to religious objections to the COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

The ruling is part of an ongoing class action lawsuit in the 6th Circuit aimed at granting relief to over 10,000 unvaccinated active duty, reserve, and National Guard Air Force and Space Force members who submitted a religious exemption to the Pentagon's vaccine mandate and were denied or are awaiting a decision. A circuit court decision had previously ordered the Air Force to halt "disciplinary or separation measures" taken against the class while the lawsuit continues.

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Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin speaks during a briefing at the Pentagon in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 27, 2022. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

The appeals court said in its Tuesday opinion that the Air Force "wrongly relied on its ‘broadly formulated’ reasons for the vaccine mandate to deny specific exemptions to the Plaintiffs, especially since it has granted secular exemptions to their colleagues."

In addition, the court said the Air Force has an unlawful "'uniform’ practice of denying religious exemptions to anyone who wants to remain in the service."

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A spokesperson for the Air Force told Fox News Digital after the opinion was released: "The Department of the Air Force is complying with a court order to pause all disciplinary and adverse actions for members refusing the COVID-19 vaccine who submitted a timely religious accommodation request and fall within the definition of the court's certified class."

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In September, the Pentagon's acting inspector general issued a report, obtained by Fox News Digital, which stated that there are "concerning denials of religious liberty accommodation requests from COVID-19 vaccination requirements."

"We found a trend of generalized assessments rather than the individualized assessment that is required by Federal law and DoD and Military Service policies," he continued in the report, issued to the secretary of defense.