Biden admin says it will not halt firing employees seeking vax exemptions before a DC court ruling

The attorney for the plaintiffs said the Biden administration has shown ‘an unprecedented, cavalier attitude toward the rule of law’

A Washington, D.C., district court judge issued a minute order Thursday asking the Biden administration to agree that both civilian and active-duty military plaintiffs will not be terminated while they await a ruling after they sued the administration over religious exemptions to COVID-19 vaccines.

“None of the civilian employee plaintiffs will be subject to discipline while his or her request for a religious exception is pending,” read a minute order from District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly obtained by Fox News.

The Biden administration, which had until noon on Friday to respond, said in a filing that it would not agree to halt the discipline and termination of any employees in the process of seeking a religious exemption to the vaccine pending the court’s ruling on the temporary restraining order (TRO) motion. 

“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,” wrote the Biden administration in its filing Friday.

The judge on Thursday 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.”

The judge further ordered the defendants in the Biden administration to file a supplemental notice by noon on Friday that indicates whether they will agree that no plaintiff will be disciplined or terminated pending the court’s ruling, or else another briefing will be scheduled.

By Jon Brown

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