The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear two cases filed on behalf of Air Force personnel who sought back pay and affirmation of their religious First Amendment rights after they were kicked out of the service for refusing to comply with the Defense Department’s 2021 vaccine mandate.
The justices denied petitions Monday for Poffenbarger v. Meink and Doster v. Meink — cases that had challenged the vaccine mandate but were dismissed by lower courts as moot, given that the DoD allowed service members who refused the vaccine to begin returning in 2023, and in 2025, announced incentives such as back pay to bring them back in.
In the first case, Air Force Reserve First Lt. Michael Poffenbarger filed his lawsuit in 2022, arguing that the order violated the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the First Amendment. Poffenbarger had sought a religious exemption from the immunization and was denied, receiving a letter of reprimand and placed on the inactive list.