On Thursday, a Washington, D.C., district court issued a minute order that asked the Biden administration to temporarily stop firing civilian and active-duty military plaintiffs while they wait for a ruling after suing over religious exemptions to the COVID vaccine.
District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly’s order read “None of the civilian employee plaintiffs will be subject to discipline while his or her request for a religious exception is pending”.
The court gave the administration until noon on Friday to respond, and it stated that it will not agree to stop the discipline and termination of anyone currently seeking a religious exemption while they wait for a ruling.
The Biden administration’s filing stated “It is Plaintiffs’ burden to demonstrate impending irreparable harm…but Plaintiffs offer nothing beyond speculation to suggest that their religious exception requests will be denied and that they will be disciplined at all, much less on the first day that such discipline is theoretically possible”.
The judge had also asked the administration to agree that “active duty military plaintiffs, whose religious exception requests have been denied, will not be disciplined or separated during the pendency of their appeals”.
Defendants from the administration were ordered to file a supplemental notice by the same time Friday indicating if they agree that no plaintiff will be disciplined or terminated while awaiting the court ruling.
Twenty plaintiffs have sued the president over his executive order to mandate vaccines for federal employees. Michael Yoder, the plaintiffs’ attorney, told Fox News, “The Biden administration has shown an unprecedented, cavalier attitude toward the rule of law and an utter ineptitude at basic constitutional contours”.
People across the country have filed lawsuits against Biden and his administration over the unconstitutional mandates. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis also announced a lawsuit against the administration this week.