A federal judge late Tuesday rejected Oklahoma’s challenge to the Pentagon’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for National Guard troops, marking a key decision in the unfolding legal fight across the country over how far the military can go in requiring vaccinations.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Stephen Friot shows that governors, service members and others who object to the Defense Department’s vaccine requirement will face a steep uphill battle in court.
The judge said that claims by Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican, and state Attorney General John O’Connor were without merit. He ruled that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was justified in requiring that all National Guard troops get vaccinated by their service’s respective deadline.
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“The vaccine mandate to which the governor objects is the one — in addition to the nine that already apply to all service members — intended to protect service members from the virus which has, in less than two years, killed more Americans than have been killed in action in all of the wars the United States has ever fought,” Judge Friot wrote. “The court is required to decide the case on the basis of federal law, not common sense. But, either way, the result would be the same.”
Oklahoma officials were joined in the lawsuit by more than a dozen National Guard personnel who claimed that Mr. Austin overstepped his constitutional authority in applying the vaccine mandate to Guard forces and that Guard troops who don’t want the vaccine shouldn’t be forced to get it.
Since the lawsuit was filed earlier this month, at least five other Republican governors have said that they, too, believe Mr. Austin lacks the authority to implement the mandate. They claim that National Guard troops remain under governors’ control until they’re called up for federal duty, meaning the Pentagon is limited in its power to require vaccinations.
In a statement after the ruling, Mr. O’Connor stood by the lawsuit.
“We filed this lawsuit to support these Oklahomans who object to the president’s vaccine mandate,” his office said in a statement, according to The Associated Press. “We are disappointed with this decision.”
Mr. Austin, meanwhile, has said that vaccinations are a matter of military readiness. His policy states that any Guard members who refuse the vaccine by the deadline won’t be paid.
“As I’ve said before, vaccination of the force will save lives and is essential to our readiness,” the defense secretary said in a November memo.
Legal scholars generally agree that governors will have a tough time persuading courts to exempt Guard forces from the mandate.
Indeed, Judge Friot said that military personnel already have agreed to a host of other vaccinations when they signed up to serve.
“The COVID vaccination mandate should be understood against the backdrop of other military immunization mandates — which date back as far as Gen. George Washington’s mandate that troops in the Continental Army be inoculated against smallpox. Nine vaccinations (now ten, with the COVID vaccination mandate) are required for all service members,” he wrote.
The vaccination deadline for Air National Guard members was Dec. 2. Army National Guard forces have until June 30.
Each service’s vaccination deadline for active-duty troops has already passed.
For more information, visit The Washington Times COVID-19 resource page.
• This article is based in part on wire service reports.