Defense Secretary Hegseth, a 12-year Active-Duty Marine Corps Officer Faces ‘Egregious Discrimination’ for Refusing the Flu Shot
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has been adequately informed about a Marine Corps’ officer’s denied religious accommodation request and the subsequent punitive actions taken against him for holding to his religious convictions against the flu shot.
The Gateway Pundit spoke to Daniel Schmid, a constitutional attorney and the associate vice president of legal affairs with Liberty Counsel. The fight for the religious rights of service members is nothing new to the nonprofit organization. The attorney noted that Liberty Counsel obtained a number of injunctions against the Department of Defense at the height of the COVID-19 shot mandate era, affirming the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) protects the right of service members to object to a vaccine that violates their conscience.
With heightened awareness about the testing and development process of vaccines during the COVID era, an increasing number of service members are also taking religious objection to flu vaccines. “Flu shots are much like the COVID vaccines in their testing, approval, and otherwise development with the use of aborted fetal cells that people have objections to,” Schmid shared.
“There’s a range of different objections that people have in this process and they request an accommodation for it,” he explained. For example, many Christians consider their body a temple of the Holy Spirit, taking strong objection to the use of aborted fetal cells in any stage of a vaccine’s development process. Others also rely on God for healing in sickness rather than the use of man-made drugs.
RFRA applies to each of these objections and more from members of the military, Schmid pointed out. “But just like the blanket denials [of religious accommodation] we saw in over 16,000 service members during COVID,” he said, “we’re starting to see the same blanket denials over the flu.”
“This is starting to look like retaliation for those who exercised their rights during COVID,” Schmid argued. “With all the executive orders that the president has signed about protecting religious freedom and all the memorandums that the Secretary of Defense has issued in support of religious freedom, someone down below is not getting the message.”
For this reason, Liberty Counsel has reached out directly to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. On July 17, a letter was sent via FedEx and email to call attention to “egregious discrimination within the Marine Corps” against one of their clients, referred to as “First Lieutenant Supply Officer” for anonymity.
We sent a demand letter to @DeptofDefense and @SecDef on behalf of an officer in the Marines denied an RAR from annual shots. The DOD should not sacrifice a few good men on the altar of wrongfully denied religious accommodation requests. https://t.co/Z7J8tCqLhS pic.twitter.com/RpcoRF8nuh
— Liberty Counsel (@libertycounsel) July 18, 2025
In his case, the letter specifically requests that the Office of the Secretary of Defense require the Secretary of the Navy and Commandant of the Marine Corps to:
1) “Unsubstantiate and void” the discriminatory recommendations for separation
2) Rescind and remove all adverse paperwork and evaluations in his Official Military Personnel File (OMPF) and Automated Performance Evaluation System (APES)
3) Overturn the denial of Fiscal Year 2024 Special Selection Board and retroactively promote him to Captain, fully restoring losses to include backpay
4) Expedite acceptance into Professional Military Education in order for him to catch up with his peer group
Interestingly, not only does 1LT Supply Officer have a “sincere religious objection” to the flu shot, but Schmid also pointed out that the Marine Corps officer has had a previous adverse reaction to the shot. “So who’s directing medical staff to ignore his adverse reaction?” he questioned.
“They’ve essentially said ‘we’re not going to give him religious accommodation or medical exemption, because he bucked the system last time, got an injunction, and this is our way out,” Schmid declared.
Retired Air Force Judge Advocate General Davis Younts is also representing 1LT Supply Officer and praised Liberty Counsel for their efforts on behalf of service members. Younts, remains deeply concerned that “many mid-level officers are seeking to continue to purge Christians from the military despite the efforts of the Secretary of Defense and the Trump Administration.” Younts hopes this case is “one among several that will allow the Secretary of the Navy and the Secretary of Defense to send a strong message that discrimination of this type will no longer be tolerated.”
Although he has over a decade of service, because he has served less than 6 years as an officer, 1LT Supply Officer is not eligible to go before a group of his peers during the administrative separation process. Thus, without the Defense Secretary’s intervention, he is expected to be separated from the military.
“It’s past time to stop persecuting individuals on the basis of their faith,” Schmid offered. “That was the last administration, and we don’t do that here, right?”
1LT Supply Officer’s circumstance is one of many that Liberty Counsel is prepared to share with the Office of the Secretary of Defense.
The Pentagon responded to requests for comment, saying “we do not discuss ongoing litigation.”
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