So, back the actual topic of the thread…
This “article” is actually pretty frustrating. The same sort of misleading hyperbole as the first “article”.
The judge is not ordering the Navy to deploy a warship with an anti-vaxxer in command. He is preventing the Navy from removing an officer from command of a warship. That’s not really the same thing.
And “The federal judiciary is quite literally preventing the nation from defending itself at sea.” There aren’t enough roll-eyes. The case involves a single guided missile destroyer, which the Navy is perfectly free to deploy or not at its own discretion. And following that up with “But Doe poses the bigger threat. He is currently the commanding officer of a warship that may soon set sail. If he falls seriously ill at sea—which is more likely because he refuses the vaccine—he may thwart the entire mission.” Oh, come on now. If a single ship’s commander falling seriously ill thwarts an entire mission, the Navy’s got much bigger problems than an over-active judge on an anti-vax crusade.
That being said, it’s pretty frustrating, because underneath the hyperbole, the judge’s actions really do seem outrageous. Appointment and removal of individuals from command really is an area where I think U.S. courts could be legitimately said to have always been extremely deferential to the military. I’m hardly an expert, but unlike the vaccine mandate cases supra, I personally can’t think of any instances where a U.S. court directly intervened in this kind of command decision.
And even worse, the officer in question isn’t just refusing to vaccinate. According to his superiors, he’s been insubordinate, disobeyed regulations and direct orders, and lied to his superiors. If I had pulled half the crap he’s accused of back when I was a lowly Platoon Sergeant, merely being removed from my position would have been the least of my concerns. I guess rank does hath its privileges if he’s only facing being removed from command (and yes, I realize for an officer, that’s a career-killer, but it seems like he could be facing a court martial).
And the judge in this case apparently thinks that his superiors are lying about all of that, under oath, as retaliation for his vaccine refusal? I mean…I guess that’s possible, but…again, this is an area where I think courts usually do show quite a bit of deference to the military. Unless he has actual evidence to the contrary, questioning the integrity of multiple officers and impugning their sworn testimony really seems beyond the pale.