On behalf of its Air Force client, Thomas More Society filed a lawsuit in January in Georgia’s federal court system where it won a preliminary injunction against the Pentagon’s vaccine mandate.
Last week, AFN reported that U.S. District Court Judge Matthew McFarland, who sits on the bench in Ohio, entered a nationwide temporary injunction. That ruling keeps the Air Force from enforcing its mandate and from punishing airmen who have so far refused to roll up a sleeve against their will.
That lawsuit was filed in May on behalf of an Air Force second lieutenant, Hunter Doster.
Steve Crampton, who is senior counsel at Thomas More, says the Georgia case and Ohio case parallel each other.
“In fact, ours was filed first,” he says. “But we're very grateful for the good work in Ohio and for the excellent opinion issued in this Doster case.”
The lawsuit filed by Thomas More, Air Force Officer v. Austin, won the first preliminary injunction for an Air Force member in the country, but the federal judge overseeing that case is now watching the Ohio case to see if the injunction ruling is appealed.
“Our view," Crampton tells AFN, “is that the vaccine mandates have been a disaster from the start for the entire country, for the military, and especially for those with deeply held religious convictions.”
Editor's note: As originally posted, this story identified the Ohio case as a Liberty Counsel case. It is not.
