{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://bergman.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=956", "38 House Republicans File Amicus Brief in Support of Navy Service Members Seeking Religious Accommodations for the Department of Defense\u2019s COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate", "2021-12-20", "2021", "2021-12", "Republican", "House", "MI", "Jack Bergman", "B001301", "bergman.house.gov", "bergman", "https://bergman.house.gov/news/documentquery.aspx", "scraper", "Rep. Jack Bergman and 37 House Republicans led by Rep. Mike Johnson, filed an Amicus Brief before the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas in support of 35 Navy service members seeking religious accommodations for the Department of Defense\u2019s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.\n\nThe brief states: \u201cThe very first clause of the very First Amendment explicitly states that \u2018Congress shall make no law\u2026 prohibiting the free exercise\u2019 of religion. This amendment, case law, and Congress\u2019s decision to pass the Religious Freedom Restoration Act all testify to the fact that, without entrenched, generally applicable, and judicially enforceable protections for religious liberty, lawmakers and government bureaucrats are susceptible to override sincere religious beliefs in favor of what they mistakenly see as the greater good. That is what is happening with Defendants\u2019 vaccine mandate.\u201d\n\nThe brief continues: \u201cPlaintiffs\u2019 religious liberty and the government\u2019s asserted interest in protecting our service members from COVID-19 need not be in conflict, especially where, as here, the individuals seeking an exemption are willing to adopt non-vaccination measures to protect themselves and others from the spread of COVID-19.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:37:48Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://bergman.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=956"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.7221132293343544, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}