The ruling could lead to the discovery of evidence of wrongdoing by the federal government and military, including records showing the military violated U.S. Department of Defense official policy by requiring the administration of an Emergency Use Authorization vaccine.
A federal judge denied a motion by the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) for a stay of discovery of evidence in an ongoing court case regarding COVID-19 vaccine mandates for military service members.
In an order issued Jan. 6 in Coker et al. v. Austin et al., U.S. Federal District Judge Allen Winsor of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida wrote:
“Defendants have not made a sufficient showing that a complete stay of discovery is appropriate — and because a complete stay may delay final resolution of Plaintiffs’ claims.”
The judge’s ruling allowing the discovery phase to continue is significant, as, during this process, evidence indicating potential federal government and military wrongdoing may be uncovered.
This may include records indicating the various branches of the military have violated DOD official policy by requiring the administration of an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) vaccine, as opposed to a fully approved vaccine.
As previously reported by The Defender, Coker et al. v. Austin et al., a case initially known as Doe et al v. Austin, pertains to a lawsuit filed by 18 military service members against the DOD, challenging the military’s vaccine mandate and the rejection of the medical or religious exemptions submitted by several of the plaintiffs.
In his Jan. 6 order, Judge Winsor said the DOD did not show the case will turn on the administrative record, referring to the record of evidence upon which administrative agencies rely to make decisions and develop policy.
In supporting this assertion, Judge Winsor referenced the service members’ initial request for a preliminary injunction, which he had rejected in part on the basis that the service members had not shown they had been denied a “BLA-compliant” (FDA-approved) vaccine.
However, in his earlier ruling against the preliminary injunction, Judge Winsor rebuffed the DOD’s claim that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, released under EUA is “interchangeable” with the Pfizer Comirnaty vaccine that received full FDA approval.
The plaintiffs subsequently filed an amended complaint in which some of the plaintiffs alleged that in fact, they were denied the FDA-approved Pfizer Comirnaty vaccine.
As a result, in his Jan. 6 ruling, Judge Winsor wrote, “[d]iscovery on that topic need not wait.”
READ MORE