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(LifeSiteNews) —  A federal court has temporarily blocked the U.S. Air Force COVID jab mandate from being enforced on service personnel who have requested a religious exemption.

On Thursday, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio issued the order in Doster v. Kendall. Under the provisions, the court has 14 days to consider to continue the ban on forced jabs for affected Air Force members until a trial is held.

“This is a huge victory for our country and religious freedom,” said Stephen Crampton, Senior Counsel for the Thomas More Society, the law firm representing the servicemen affected by the case.

“Not only does this decision protect the plaintiffs in the Doster case, but it also protects the fundamental First Amendment rights of Air Force service members all over the nation, including those in the Space Force, Air Force Academy Cadets, and those in the Reserves,” said Crampton.

READ: Senior FDA, CDC officials reportedly leaving over ‘bad’ COVID policies

Judge Matthew McFarland noted in the court order that it is evident that the “Defendants [the Air Force] have engaged in a pattern of denying religious accommodation requests.” According to the Thomas More Society, only about one percent of religious exemption requests for the COVID shot have been granted in the Air Force, “and virtually all of those are for airmen leaving the Air Force.”

The court also found that these Air Force members, who sought relief under both the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, all “suffer from the government’s ‘overt policy to deny virtually all religious accommodation requests,’” the law firm added.

“It is gratifying to see the courts uphold their constitutional duty to ensure other branches of the government do not run roughshod over fundamental rights, as the Air Force has been doing here,” remarked Crampton.

READ: Massachusetts bill to eliminate vaccine religious exemptions dies in committee

The Thomas More Society won the first preliminary injunction in the US against Air Force COVID jab mandates in the case Air Force Officer v. Austin.

In April, the Supreme Court ruled that the Pentagon could take disciplinary action against a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force Reserve who objected to the COVID jab for religious reasons.

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