Supreme Court Refuses to Take COVID-19 Shot Mandate Cases Affecting U.S. Service Members

Image: Wikimedia Commons (Jeff Kubina, 2006)

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court denied petitions for Poffenbarger v. Meink and Doster v. Meink. These cases, in part, challenged the COVID-19 shot mandate imposed on U.S. service members by former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and the Biden administration.

However, lower courts deemed the cases moot as a result of President Donald Trump’s enactment of an Executive Order issued on January 27, 2025, which aimed to “reinstate all members of the...