The Department of Defense (DOD) has signed a $1.8 million settlement with Liberty Counsel to pay for attorney’s fees and costs after the Christian religious rights law firm litigated for two years against the Biden administration’s order mandating all U.S. military service members get the COVID-19 shot.
The big settlement, signed by legal representatives from both sides, was filed on Oct. 3 in the Middle District Court of Florida located in Tampa. The DOD is now required to pay Liberty Counsel its fee within 21 days.
In a statement announcing the settlement with the DOD, Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Matt Staver said, “The military COVID shot mandate is dead. Our heroic service members can no longer be forced to take this experimental jab that conflicts with their religious convictions.”
“Through our daily work with service members in every branch, we have had the privilege of knowing some of the finest people who love God and love America. These heroes should not have been mistreated by our own government,” Staver continued. “At the same time, we have come to realize that many of the high-ranking members of leadership, the Pentagon, and the Biden administration need to be replaced. Collectively, they dishonored the brave men and women who defend our freedom.”
“We stand ready to defend our defenders of freedom if any religious discrimination occurs in the future,” he added.
The settlement marks the end of Liberty Counsel’s two-year legal battle against the Biden administration’s COVID-19 shot mandate. After the law firm’s class action lawsuits in Navy SEAL 1 v. Austin and Colonel Financial Management Officer, et al. v. Austin, and after Liberty obtained multiple restraining orders and injunctions, including a class-wide injunction, the DOD was forced to abandon its mandate and rescind its COVID shot orders on January 10, 2023.
Only a Few Dozen Discharged Have Tried to Rejoin the Military
The settlement agreement comes after thousands of service members were denied religious accommodation requests (RAR) from the mandate. Some service members have been punished, demoted, or discharged as a result, Liberty Counsel said in a press release.
Of the more than 8,000 service members who were discharged from the U.S. military for refusing to receive the COVID-19 vaccination, only 43 have endeavored to rejoin in the eight months after the vaccine mandate was rescinded, according to data provided to CNN by the military branches.
As CBN News reported on Dec. 30, 2022, the DOD was forced to rescind the COVID-19 shot mandate for all military service members after Congress passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The legislation gave Austin 30 days to end the mandate.
As CBN News reported in January of this year, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin signed a memo rescinding his August 2021 mandate that had forced all members of the U.S. military to be vaccinated. The memo also canceled his November 2021 mandate requiring the same vaccinations for members of the National Guard and for reservists. But it also gave commanders some discretion in how or whether to deploy troops who are not vaccinated.
U.S. Army Hasn’t Met Recruiting Goal in Nine Years
Meanwhile, the U.S. Army is launching a sweeping overhaul of its recruiting to focus more on young people who’ve spent time in college or are job hunting early in their careers.
Army Secretary Christine Wormuth revealed Tuesday that the Army hasn’t met its annual goal for new enlistment contracts since 2014.
Last year, the Army fell 15,000 short of its enlistment goal of 60,000, signing up a little more than 50,000 recruits.
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