President Trump appointees Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett joined the Supreme Court’s left flank in rejecting an emergency appeal from an Air Force Reserve officer who was punished for his refusal to take the COVID-19 vaccine.
Lt. Col. Jonathan Dunn was appealing to the high court after the Air Force rejected his request for a religious exemption and removed him from command.
Dunn argues in his April 9 emergency appeal that he “acquired natural immunity to the disease” after contracting COVID-19 last summer. Further, he “has sincere religious objections to the COVID-19 vaccine.”
The officer’s immunity argument is backed by more than 150 scientific studies showing naturally acquired immunity from contracting COVID-19 is equal to or superior to existing vaccines.
Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Trump appointee Neil Gorsuch said they would have granted the request to temporarily halt Dunn’s punishment while the case continued.
The Pentagon began implementing its vaccine mandate for all service members last August.
Last month, the Supreme Court ruled against 35 Navy SEALs who challenged the vaccine mandate. In that case, Justices Thomas, Alito and Gorsuch sided with the SEALs.
Alito wrote that the officers “appear to have been treated shabbily by the Navy, and the Court brushes all that aside.”
Kavanaugh said he had a “simple overarching reason” for siding with the majority.
“Under Article II of the Constitution, the President of the United States, not any federal judge, is the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces,” he wrote.
Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton reacted on Twitter to the rejection of Dunn’s appeal.
“Justices Kavanaugh and Barrett have too often refused to step up to defend the civil rights of citizens being abused by vindictive and abusive vaccine mandates,” he wrote.
Last August, Barrett rejected a request for emergency relief from students to block a COVID-19 vaccine mandate at Indiana University.
Two months later, Justice Sonia Sotomayor rejected an emergency request from a group of teachers in New York City seeking to block the city’s requirement that they receive a COVID-19 shot or be fired.
Reporting from World Net Daily.
