by Jorge Gomez • 6 minutes
Congressional lawmakers recently introduced two important bills that would ensure military service members and chaplains can serve in accordance with their religious beliefs.
Defending Troops’ Constitutional Right to Freedom of Religion
Sens. Ted Cruz, Rick Scott, Katie Britt and Mike Lee recently introduced the “Reaffirming Every Servicemember’s Trust Of Religious Exemptions Act” or the “RESTORE Act.” Companion legislation was introduced in the U.S. House by Rep. Ronny Jackson.
The bill requires the Department of Defense (DoD) to establish a Special Review Board to audit the service-wide handling of religious accommodation requests related to the COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The board would be responsible for identifying service members who were unjustly penalized, and correcting the career and personnel records of those affected.
The Biden administration and military officials punished and horribly mistreated service members who requested legal, religious accommodations to the mandate. While exemptions were allowed for medical or administrative reasons, the process for religious accommodation requests was applied inconsistently and with overwhelming rejection. Thousands of those requests were denied with a form letter, and never given the due consideration required by law.
First Liberty fought a lengthy legal battle to stop the Pentagon brass from punishing our nation’s warriors who requested legal, religious accommodations to the mandate.
First Liberty secured the first major federal court injunction that stopped the DoD from punishing our U.S. Navy SEAL clients and other service members.
Last July, First Liberty Institute and the law firm Hacker Stephens secured a precedent-setting victory for our clients, Navy Special Warfare Operators and other members of the Navy Special Warfare Community.
The settlement was also a broad win that ensured that Navy service members who refused the COVID vaccine for religious reasons—as well as those who elected to leave service after being mistreated by the Navy—would have an opportunity to correct their personnel records. Including all those involved in the class action, this outcome protected and saved the careers of thousands of our military heroes.
“We are grateful to these U.S. Senators for their strong leadership in protecting the religious liberty rights of our brave servicemembers,” said Hiram Sasser, Executive General Counsel at First Liberty.
The RESTORE Act would correct past wrongs and also help ensure that service members don’t face unjust punishment in the future. The bill would:
If signed into law, the RESTORE Act will bring tremendous relief to those whose military careers were essentially ruined by the Biden administration’s punitive approach.
“America’s service men and women make tremendous sacrifices to protect their fellow warriors and our freedoms,” Sasser added. “No member of the military should be forced to sacrifice the very rights they fight to protect to be able to serve.”
Ensuring Military Chaplains Can Serve & Minister Without Fearing Punishment
Rep. Keith Self of Texas introduced the Military Chaplain Act of 2025, which would protect those whose religious liberty rights have been violated.
The Act defines the purpose, role, duties and professional qualification requirements for military chaplains. The legislation includes legal protections ensuring that responsibilities and requirements “must be conducted in a manner consistent with the chaplain’s sincerely held religious beliefs and tenets of their religious endorsing organization.”
“Chaplains are leaders in our fighting force, responsible for maintaining spiritual readiness,” said Erin Smith, Associate Counsel for First Liberty. “It is imperative that we provide them with the tools and protections necessary to fulfill their duties in accordance with their sincerely held religious beliefs and the tenets of their religious endorsing body.”
Rep. Self said he’s someone who benefited from the counsel of chaplains during his 25 years in the Army.
“I believe we must ensure they can serve without sacrificing their God-given freedoms,” he said. “Though we currently have an administration that values the chaplain corps, that may not always be the case. That’s why this legislation to safeguard religious liberty in our armed forces is urgently needed.”
Chaplains serve a unique and essential purpose. From the beginning of our nation’s history, chaplains have served alongside our troops, providing spiritual support. They’ve been there during the most crucial and difficult times of war.
Some have made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our nation, receiving recognition for their valor. Today, chaplains continue to serve, minister, pray and care for our nation’s warriors.
Chaplains are part of our country’s heritage. Of all military service members, you would expect chaplains to be able to live and to serve their country in accordance with their faith.
First Liberty has successfully defended many chaplains, ensuring they can fulfill their duties and divinely inspired calling. These include victories for:
Thanks to chaplains’ passion and devotion, our military heroes can live to fight and serve another day. Without chaplains, our military would be robbed of the spiritual readiness and toughness— the full armor—that America’s warfighters need when they fight for our freedoms.
“The military chaplain’s ability to freely exercise their religious duties is not only a Constitutional right,” Rep. Self said, “but it is essential to forming the conscience and character of our warfighters.”
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