The Supreme Court rules that Joe Biden is commander-in-chief. Three justices dissent.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Source: Vox

The Supreme Court on Friday evening decided, no, it was not going to needlessly insert itself in the military chain of command above President Joe Biden.

The Court’s decision in Austin v. U.S. Navy SEALs 1-26 largely halted a lower court order that permitted certain sailors to defy a direct order. A group of Navy special operations personnel sought an exemption from the Pentagon’s requirement that all active duty service members get vaccinated against Covid-19, claiming that they should receive a religious exemption.

A majority of the Court effectively ruled that, yes, in fact, troops do have to follow orders, including an order to take a vaccine.

The decision is undeniably a win for the balance of power between the executive branch and the judiciary that has prevailed for many decades. But the fact that the Court had to weigh in on this at all — not to mention that three justices, Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch, dissented from the majority — is a worrisome sign about America’s judiciary.

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/news/the-supreme-court-rules-that-joe-biden-is-commander-in-chief-three-justices-dissent/ar-AAVvlyf

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If anyone needed more proof the court is partisan

[JoeOtterbein]

1. Clarence...

...does what Ginni wants.

[Jarqui]

31. I was about to ask

How did Ginni say the case should be decided?

[Hulk]

60. Pressure needs to be applied to this disgusting pig to get him to resign...retire...whatever ...

he has been an embarrassment his entire 30 years on the high court. he is exposed to just what a corrupt and spineless piece of shit he really is, and with his bat shit crazy fruitcake spouse with her hand up his ass, it's past time for him to step down. We could use a 4-5 balance in the SCOTUS ....finally. Never should have had gorsuch....kavanaugh is a drunk and rapist, and barret is an evangelical hack.

[raising2moredems]

69. He can't handle the pressure and stress...

I predict he'll be stepping down/"passed on" in 3-5 months. And since old Amy Covid got nominated and confirmed in no time flat and no consideration to a presidential election, his replacement should be in place in no time. Then go after Ginni.. I am not buying she had nothing to do with planning.

[The Unmitigated Gall]

2. The Roberts Kangaroo Kourt.

[Martin68]

49. Roberts voted with the majority.

[The Unmitigated Gall]

53. Speaking in general terms.

[Hoyt]

3. Sounds to me Court reached the right decision.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

5. It should have been unanimous

[Hoyt]

9. Probably. But there are times when troops need to say, No. Would

need to read dissents to see if they made any legitimate distinctions.

[vanlassie]

33. A person who does not wish to take the vax is free

to take measures to leave the military. Of course the medical requirements would have already been spelled out on joining.

[Prof. Toru Tanaka]

55. I agree 100%, vanlassie.

As a former vet, I remember service members give up certain rights when they sign the contract and take the oath of enlistment.

You follow lawful orders or GTFO. Cut and dry. Can't do that? Then get out!

Oh, and I say no honorable or general discharge, either. Make it an "other than honorable conditions" discharge.

[jaxexpat]

61. But they're all, each and every one, heros. Right?

[Blackjackdavey]

74. at the very least

Special forces should be reassigned. Hard to see how we can maintain readiness if our special forces units could potentially catch a disabling virus when in the field.

[kwijybo]

38. They asked for Religious Exemptions to getting vaccinated

After having sat through a bunch of other, mandated, vaccinations when they got the job. And every booster they've taken. It's facepalm worthy that the judge initially agreed with them. It's a double facepalm there was actual dissent on the SC.

[atreides1]

56. There are times

When given an illegal order...they need to say no!

The order to get vaccinated isn't illegal!

[Haggis 4 Breakfast]

68. There is no such thing in the military as an "illegal order."

The legal term is "Unlawful Order," and it refers to anything that is forbidden by The Constitution, The Bill of Rights, or the UCMJ (Uniform Code of Military Justice). All active duty know what these documents mandate.

When you enlist, you understand that you are putting your rights in the hands of a higher authority. If you are deployed overseas, you will be required to receive a number of vaccinations to protect you and your team mates. Remember that there is no "I" in team. Anyone who would object to any vaccine - especially for "religious" purposes - should have thought about this before they signed on the dotted line.

[soldierant]

58. And Thomas should have recused.

As the OP's title implies, this case is related to the 2020 election results.

[brush]

11. How does a case like that even get to SCOTUS?

The lower court ruling was of course wrong in ridiculously ruling that people in military serice don't have to take orders.

But at leat SCOTUS did the right thing. It shoulld've been unanimous though.

[Hoyt]

12. However, there are times that troops need to say "No, MFer"-- William Calley's massacre for ex.

Don't really have a problem with it going through Courts.

Heck, if trump were still Racist-in-Chief, I would hope troops would defy his orders to shoot BLM protestors, or something, and the Courts would back them.

[wnylib]

13. Troops are obligated to refuse an illegal order.

[Hoyt]

16. Well, I'm fully vaxxed and boosted, but many rubes -- for whatever reason -- do question whether

the vaccine should be mandated.

Personally, I think those who don't want to get vaxed should get dishonorably discharged, or just give them a chance to leave. Our military will be better off without trumpsters and stupid people.

[wnylib]

22. I wasn't responding to the vaccine order.

I fully agree with the Supreme Court ruling.

I was responding to the comment about troops refusing to fire on BLM if they had been ordered to. It would have been an illegal order.

[Hoyt]

25. Well, I think the Court had to rule on whether mandated vaccines are legal. I think so, but as I

said, lots of rubes -- many in military -- think it's not legal. Now, there is not question.

[COL Mustard]

40. I hate to keep having to say this, but

A dishonorable discharge, or a bad conduct discharge, or for officers, a dismissal, can ONLY be handed down as a result of a court martial. This refusal, while a technical violation of the UCMJ, is never going to be tried at a court martial. So the worst they would get is a general discharge, most likely under honorable conditions.

[Prof. Toru Tanaka]

66. Agreed and it should be an administrative discharge.

I believe under "other than honorable conditions" would cover that.

[70sEraVet]

41. I doubt many troops are aware of that obligation to refuse an illegal order

I dont think they teach the lesson learned from the My Lai Massacre to troops in Basic Training.
The Military doesn't want a bunch of thinkers.
Look at Captain Crozier.

[radicalleft]

45. Uh...no, you are wrong...

It IS taught very explicitly in basic training.

[70sEraVet]

46. Genuinely glad to know I'm wrong.

I came to the conclusion after quizzing my son-in-law, who didn't seem to know anything about it.
But he could remember every idiotic thing Limbaugh ever said!

[COL Mustard]

67. Of course that's true.

But the order to get a vaccine is not illegal.

[brush]

21. Come on. Taking vaccines to insure military readiness is not an illegal order.

No way, no how relatied to the Calley massacre.

Troops must take scores of other vaccines without knowing what's in them so as to be immune from diseases like malaria, yellow fever etc., as does anyone else who travels overseas.

The lower court should never have taken that case. The fact that the judge inserted himself between a DoD command readiness order and troops smacks of a trumper judge stepping way out of his jurisdiction.

Ya can't fight a war if a good percentage of your troops keep getting sick because they refused to get vaccinated.

[Hoyt]

27. If trump told me to take a vaccine, I'd darn sure question its efficacy. Biden I trust.

[brush]

73. It's neither Biden or trump. It's commanding officers and...

insubordination in the military is a serious issue. I suspect that all of those who when around their commanding officers and took that to court, have no future in the military anymore.

[TreasonousBastard]

72. Washington knew that! He lost half the expeditionary force...

on the way to Montreal to smallpox. He eventually ordered all combat troops to get the new smallpox inoculation.

[Karadeniz]

4. This will keep things simpler.

[Cha]

6. KR! too bad for the Dissenters.. that

means Barrett and Kavanaugh agreed.. bet tffg is Pisssssssssssssed.

💙💛

[Baked Potato]

7. Good, this could have carried over to other orders. Should've been unanimous. Nt

[plimsoll]

8. I think the dissenters were strategic.

Everyone knows that Thomas will vote against any executive power while a Democrat is in office, same with Alito. Gorsuch is probably the same, but Beer Bong and Coathanger couldn't dissent and actually weaken this. If a member of the military doesn't have to follow orders, why should anyone have to obey any law they don't like?

Fundamentally Thomas, Alito and Gorsuch just showed us how closely aligned the GOP is to the Nihilists in general.

[Talitha]

10. Saw the headline and thought "Gotta be The Onion!"

[SledDriver]

20. Same

[Evolve Dammit]

39. Exactly what I thought. JHC.

[riversedge]

51. I have to admit--I did not know what to think.

[dchill]

14. Partisan? Fuck! The Supreme Court is 3/7ths Russian.

(At minimum.)

[fierywoman]

15. Yet the tfg judges voted for Biden ... weird, interesting ...

[Hoyt]

17. That is one bright spot, the SC held firm on trump's BS.

[speak easy]

19. Not necessarily good

The tfg judges rulings are consistent with autocracy. What 'the decider' says goes.

[Hoyt]

23. My reading was, "Sorry, bud, you lost, suck it up." Seems like the ruled that over 25 times.

[speak easy]

29. ok. ty

[oldsoftie]

44. They've ruled against trump on more than one occasion.

And against his proxies as well. Sometimes ALL of them.

[niyad]

36. gorsuch dissented.

[speak easy]

18. I guessed 'right'. Thomas and Alito are garbage.

[NullTuples]

24. Those three are saying "religious liberty" outweighs the very structure of our gov't

A structure intended to provide checks & balances.

Not the first time this court has tried to dismantle the entire idea of checks & balances; the Texas abortion law that evades judicial review comes to mind.

[oldsoftie]

43. I'm still waiting for someone to show me the part of the Bible that covers vaccines. nt

[NullTuples]

62. The RCC's argument was that they used cells made from stem cells for developing the vaxxes

But then they walked it back under the "greater good" theological escape clause.

[oldsoftie]

64. But from what I understand, Pfizer & Moderna did NOT use any aborted fetal cells

And then there's that list of OTC stuff that DID use them, so if they've ever used any of those items, they've violated their own "oath"

[NullTuples]

70. There you go, being all logical again...

[oldsoftie]

71. I guess I really need to work on that!

[cstanleytech]

26. Case should never have been in the civilian courts in the first place and

the judges below SCOTUS were wrong for not dismissing it.

[karin_sj]

28. Isn't Clarence in the hospital?

How can he vote then? I read that he wasn't even doing zoom meetings.

[L. Coyote]

30. He was released. Also, due to COVID they do more remote meetting, voting now.

Link to tweet

[COL Mustard]

52. I was hoping he'd be released

Feet first.

[Aviation Pro]

32. Interesting how in Alito's dissent

That he didn’t bother to check that it’s SEAL vice Seal.

So, fuck him trying to score cool guy points with NSW.

Again, fuck that poser.

[Trueblue Texan]

34. I thought this was The Onion. nt

[paleotn]

35. Interesting....

It's the religion cover that Thomas, Alito and Gorsuch were all about. A complete bullshit smokescreen. Is there some kind of bizarre religious order inside US SEAL teams? Um, no. That's just a bullshit excuse fueled by reich wing stupidity.

Interesting that "the Handmaid" didn't side with Thomas, Alito and Gorsuch. After all, weirdo religious stuff is kind of her thing. Maybe she's seen the light and should stop calling her that. Kavanaugh must have been out on a beer run.

[oldsoftie]

42. What a clickbait headline. This was a "religious rights" case. Which they shouldn't win

There HAVE been cases where the courts ruled against the military. It didn't mean they were above the President. The writer writes more of an opinion piece than a news article.
But this "no vaccine because of my religion" nonsense has to stop. There is NOTHING in the Bible that remotely covers vaccinations. And if they go with the "aborted cells" argument, then they've already violated their "beliefs" 100s of times in their loves & careers

[Farmer-Rick]

50. Yeah, I agree with NOT allowing vaccine exemptions

But there are religious exemptions in the UCMJ that have been there for decades. For example uniform regulations must make exceptions for religious headwear. And there is an entire officer cadre that caters to religion....Chaplain.

It's not about Biden or the president. It's about controls on military members.

But vaccination status is important because the military acts as it's own blood bank. During injury in times of war, members are called in to donate blood for the injured. So, it's important that the military stay up to date on vaccinations. Also the military will have to foot the bill for all illnesses and injury to all active military members and they need a healthy military to keep costs reasonable and a military moving.

[oldsoftie]

54. I agree. And why is no one ever asked "what part of your religion covers vaccines?"

So that they can then be exposed as hypocrites.

[Farmer-Rick]

59. Exactly

Where in the bible did Jesus say though shall not get a COVID vaccine?

And those numb nuts have had titanus, polio and MMRI because they wouldn't be allowed in the military without them. But COVID vaccines are a religious issue? These religious idiots are Liars.

[usaf-vet]

47. The dissenters should be ejected from the court they clearly are irrational and should not be....

... allow to rule in any case involving United States citizens. They have proven themselves to be nothing but puppets.

[Martin68]

48. The 3 justices who voted against this are clearly not fit to sit on the Supreme Court because they

cannot or will not make decisions that are not based on their political/ideological biases.

[ificandream]

57. I'm more surprised that Kavanaugh and Barrett ruled with the majority.

Goes to show ya that stacking the court doesn't guarantee everything (though it does guarantee a lot).

[former9thward]

63. The decision by the court is not what the OP headline suggests.

The court ordered a stay on the lower court's order. They did not rule on the merits of the case. The simply stayed the lower court's order until the case has a chance to be decided by an appeals court. So the case is a long ways from being actually decided.

[Dan]

65. did the 3 justicesbweight in on who is the CIC?

[The Grand Illuminist]

75. A win is a win

Doesn't matter how close.