In 2021, First Liberty Institute filed a lawsuit on behalf of numerous Navy SEALs and Navy Special Operators, which was later expanded to include all Navy service members with religious objections to the COVID-19 vaccine mandate. Now, First Liberty Institute and Hacker Stephens LLP have announced a settlement with the U.S. Department of the Navy.
First Liberty Institute shared details of the settlement:
The agreement ensures that Navy service members who refused the COVID vaccine for religious reasons will have the opportunity to correct their records and protect their careers. For the next three promotion boards, any adverse information related solely to COVID-19 vaccine refusal, where a religious accommodation was requested, must not be considered. Service members who chose to leave the service due to mistreatment will also have their records corrected. Additionally, the Navy agreed to publicly affirm its respect for religious service members, provide more training for commanders reviewing religious accommodation requests, revise related policies, and pay $1.5 million in attorneys’ fees.
“This has been a long and difficult journey, but the Navy SEALs never gave up,” said Danielle Runyan, Chair of the Military Practice Group and Senior Counsel at First Liberty Institute. “We are thrilled that those members of the Navy who were guided by their conscience and steadfast in their faith will not be penalized in their Navy careers.”
“This was a hard-fought but significant victory for all members of the military and the principle of religious liberty,” added Heather Gebelin Hacker, lead counsel for the class, along with Andrew Stephens and a partner at Hacker Stephens LLP.
Additionally, the Navy has agreed to “re-review the personnel records of all Class Members to ensure that the U.S. Navy has permanently removed records indicating administrative separation processing or proceedings, formal counseling, and non-judicial punishment actions taken against the Class Member solely on the basis of non-compliance with the COVID-19 Mandate and adverse information related to non-compliance with the COVID-19 Mandate.”
Ted Macie shared his thoughts on X, expressing gratitude for the case that saved his Naval career. Macie, one of 231 signatories of the Declaration of Military Accountability regarding the COVID vaccine mandate for military members, recounted his experience:
“This case saved my Naval career (at the time, 18 years active duty). I was about to be involuntarily separated over an illegal shot mandate, with a religious accommodation in process. Instead, by the grace of God, I’m retiring soon with what will be 23 years of service, 3 reserve, and 20 active duty.
While I am deeply grateful for this case, the lawyers, and the team, we need to keep pressing. There is still nothing to prevent something like this from happening again. There must be accountability. People need to go to jail, at a minimum.
The effect of this case created a pivotal moment in my family’s life. Since we thought I was going to be kicked out, we planned for me to run for Congress. This was never an aspiration; it was out of necessity. After experiencing the blatant disregard for the law and people’s Constitutional rights, the level of deception between pharma, the FDA, and the DoD, and the lack of urgency or action by Congress, we quickly realized that the majority of them are puppets and/or cowards with minimal integrity.
Since I remained on active duty, I became a whistleblower by tracking the Defense Medical Epidemiology Database (DMED) for unusual signals such as a 151% increase in Myocarditis and a 973% increase in active-duty pilot heart failure occurrences. After a video went viral, I was put under investigation instead of them investigating the information I was alerting up my chain of command. I’ve been quiet about it but I’m still dealing with whistleblower retaliation… more to that story another time.
We had no other option but to become a part of the solution, especially for our children. My wife, Mara Macie, ended up running for US Congress in FL D5 because of what we experienced, fought tooth and nail for, and the beautiful people we’ve met along the way. She’s built for this.
All the hardship just adds fuel to our fire. We’re going to save this place whether they like it or not.”
LONG POST: SEALS 1-26 V BIDEN CASE