Vaccine litigation still lingering after lifting of military mandate
NEW ORLEANS — Federal appeals court judges closely questioned a Biden administration attorney Monday on the consequences military personnel might face for refusing COVID-19 vaccinations, even though Biden’s vaccine mandate for military personnel has been rescinded.
Lawyers for a group of Navy SEALS and other Navy personnel who refuse to be vaccinated for religious reasons told a 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel that federal court injunctions against the mandate are still needed, in part because decisions on deployments and assignments can still be made based on vaccination status.
“Is there any assurance on the record, that there will be no deployment decisions based on vaccination?” Judge James Ho, one of three judges hearing the case, asked Department of Justice lawyer Casen Ross.
Ross said such questions were speculative and not at issue in the case before the court. Ho and Judge Kyle Duncan noted that the administration had only reluctantly ended the military mandate after December congressional action, but Ross assured the panel that there are no plans to bring back the requirement.
“Given the prevailing public health guidelines and the state of the virus, there is currently no intention to require universal vaccination of all service members,” Ross said.
The Pentagon formally dropped the requirement in January following a December vote in Congress to end the mandate. But vaccine opponents note commanders can still make decisions on how and whether to deploy unvaccinated troops, under a memo signed last month by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
Military leaders have long argued that to maintain unit health and troop readiness, troops have for decades been required to get as many as 17 vaccines, particularly those who are deploying overseas.
Attorneys for the unvaccinated Navy personnel argued in briefs to the 5th Circuit that Austin’s memo and other Defense Department actions show the Navy still intends to treat unvaccinated personnel “like second-class citizens because of their religious beliefs.”
Government lawyers argue the policy is in line with “well-established principles of judicial noninterference with core military decision making,” in their briefs.
Haiti elections: Haiti’s prime minister Monday formally appointed a transition council charged with ensuring that long-awaited general elections are held in a country with no democratically elected institutions.
While many doubt the creation of the council will help the government hold elections this year as envisioned, Prime Minister Ariel Henry said it was a significant step toward that goal.
“It is the beginning of the end of the dysfunction of our democratic institutions,” he said.
Haiti has failed to hold elections since the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise. Henry took power after Moise’s death, and promised his administration would do so.
In early January, the terms of the remaining 10 senators expired, leaving no elected officials in place for a country of more than 11 million people.
Ohio train derailment:
Crews began releasing toxic chemicals into the air from five derailed tanker cars that were in danger of exploding Monday after warning residents near the Ohio-pennsylvania state line to leave immediately or face the possibility of death.
Flames and black smoke billowed high into the sky from the derailment site late in the afternoon, about an hour after authorities said the controlled release would begin. The Ohio Emergency Management Agency confirmed the release was underway.
Ohio Gov. Mike Dewine earlier ordered evacuations in the area of the derailment that has been smoldering since Friday night. Authorities believe most, if not all, residents in the danger zone had left, but they were knocking on doors one more time before releasing the vinyl chloride inside the cars, he said.
Officials warned the controlled burn would send phosgene and hydrogen chloride into the air. Phosgene is a toxic gas that can cause vomiting and breathing trouble and was used as a weapon in World War I.
New York quake: A small earthquake rumbled through western New York early Monday, alarming people in a region unaccustomed to such shaking but apparently causing no significant damage.
The U.S. Geological Survey preliminarily reported a 3.8 earthquake centered east of Buffalo in the suburb of West Seneca at about 6:15 a.m. Seismologist Yaareb Altaweel said it matched the intensity of the strongest earthquake the region has seen in 40 years of available records — a 3.8 quake that was recorded in November 1999.
The shaking lasted a few seconds and sent residents first to their windows and then to social media in search of an explanation.
“It felt like a car hit my house in Buffalo. I jumped out of bed,” Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz tweeted.
City and county crews spent part of the day inspecting bridges and roads in New York, finding no immediate damage, officials said.
Texas outages: The future of Austin’s top city executive plunged into jeopardy Monday as frustration boiled over power outages that have left thousands of people without electricity in the Texas capital for nearly a week and could drag on for days longer.
Austin Mayor Kirk Watson, a Democrat, called a meeting for this week that will put City Manager Spencer Cronk’s job on the line. The move reflected the growing discontent over slow repairs to power lines following a deadly ice storm that left residents with no sense about when their electricity might finally return.
Austin Energy, the city’s utility, warned Sunday in the face of growing criticism that full power restoration may not happen until Feb. 12 — nearly two weeks after the outages began.
France pension debate:
France’s parliament on Monday started debating a deeply controversial pension bill aiming to raise the minimum retirement age that’s touched off a wave of strikes and large street demonstrations, with more protests set to come this week.
The lower house, the National Assembly, began debating the planned raising of the minimum retirement age from 62 to 64 a day before a third round of protests called by eight main workers’ unions, with more demonstrations planned Saturday.
French President Emmanuel Macron’s government is now facing a harsh political battle in parliament that could span weeks or months.
Macron vowed to go ahead with the changes — his second presidential term’s flagship legislation — which he described last week as “indispensable when you compare to (other countries) in Europe.”