The case of a 12-year active-duty Marine Corps officer exposes a top-down leadership failure that echoes a legally condemned system and puts constitutional freedoms at risk. It has become increasingly evident that a crisis is unfolding in the Marine Corps over the enforcement of vaccine mandates, pitting an exemplary officer’s faith against a federal court-ruled, unlawful institutional process.
Davis Younts, a retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel and former Judge Advocate General (JAG) officer, serves as legal counsel for the officer involved, whose name is Schuyler Skipper. “The case of First Lieutenant Skipper highlights a broken system, with accountability resting at the highest levels of Marine Corps’ leadership,” he told The Gateway Pundit.
Documents reviewed by the author show that 1stLt Skipper has been an exemplary Marine. His Fitness Report (FITREP) praises his “exceptional leadership,” “proactive approach,” and status as an “invaluable asset” to his regiment. Despite his honorable record, his career is at risk due to administrative separation and a denied promotion to Captain, all stemming from his refusal to receive vaccinations for religious reasons.
“This act, and his subsequent charge for disobeying a ‘lawful’ order, was the sole reason his otherwise impeccable evaluation was stamped with a negative mark, called an Adverse Material Action,” Younts shared. “This demonstrates a systemic subversion of the personnel system, using an evaluation tool not to measure performance but to punish a service member for a religious belief.
The Merryday Mandate: A Legal Precedent Ignored by Marine Corps Leadership
For Younts, “The Marine Corps’ actions are not just a bureaucratic failure; they are a direct contradiction of legal precedents set forth by federal judges.” Interestingly, U.S. District Judge Steven D. Merryday and Judge Reed O’Connor have already issued rulings against the military’s vaccine mandates, condemning the process for seeking a religious accommodation as a “ruse,” a piece of “theater,” and an “exercise in futility.”
“They found that the Navy ‘merely rubber-stamps each denial’ for religious accommodation, using pre-written, standard language without any specific, individualized analysis,” Younts noted. “First Lieutenant Skipper’s own rebuttal in his official record confirms this, [noting] his final denial letter mirrored the templated language criticized by Judge Merryday.”
In Younts’ opinion, “The Marine Corps’ refusal to grant essentially no religious accommodations for a vaccine, while other services like the Navy and Air Force have done so, proves a deliberate policy choice, not a mistake.”
Emphasizing that his views do not reflect those of the Department of War or Department of the Navy, 1stLt Skipper also spoke to The Gateway Pundit. He said there appears to be a significant disparity in how the Marine Corps handles religious accommodations. While an extensive technical report with over 30 references was conducted to assess the safety of beards, 1stLt Skipper’s vaccine request was reviewed in a single-page letter with no cited references.
“The fact that my unit has over 50 medical exemptions for the flu vaccine—proving an unvaccinated status does not pose an existential threat to readiness—makes the denial of my religious request all the more indefensible,” 1stLt Skipper argued.
The Chain of Command of Injustice: Accountability Starts at the Top
“This systemic failure is not the result of low-level errors; it is a failure of leadership at the highest levels of the Marine Corps,” Younts argued. “The responsibility for this flawed and discriminatory process rests squarely on those in command who have allowed it to persist despite clear judicial and constitutional mandates.”
The Commandant of the Marine Corps (CMC), the top Marine leader, holds the ultimate authority for policies governing the Corps, including religious accommodations, he explained. In addition, the Commandant’s office receives the reports from promotion selection boards and provides recommendations before they are passed to the Secretary of the Navy. “The fact that essentially no religious accommodations for vaccines have been granted across the entire Marine Corps is a testament to a deliberate, top-down decision to defy judicial precedent and penalize service members for their faith,” said Younts.
Major General David J. Bligh, the former Staff Judge Advocate (SJA) to the Commandant beginning in September 2021 and newly appointed Judge Advocate General of the Navy, was the senior legal advisor for the entire Marine Corps and now the Department of the Navy. His office was part of the legal review chain for promotion boards and administrative actions while he served as SJA to the CMC.
Younts pointed out that the same leader who derailed 1stLt Skipper’s career and assisted in violating the religious freedoms of Marines at large will be able to advise in the final adjudication of 1stLt Skipper’s administrative separation proceedings at the Secretary of the Navy level.
According to him, “The continued use of legally indefensible boilerplate language in religious accommodation denials and the failure to reform a process that federal courts have condemned constitutes a profound legal and administrative failure, suggesting a conscious decision to either ignore established legal precedent or to provide counsel that is inconsistent with a service member’s constitutional rights.”
In Younts’ opinion, “The injustice perpetrated against 1stLt Skipper is, in large part, a legal failure that falls squarely on the shoulders of the Navy’s senior legal officer.”
A Call to Action: The Path to Rectification and Accountability
1stLt Skipper said, “This is a matter that goes beyond my career; it is a matter of the integrity of the United States Marine Corps and its fidelity to the Constitution.” For this reason, he is respectfully “[calling] upon key leaders to act and rectify the injustice.”
He considers Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Under Secretary of War for Personnel and Readiness USW(P&R) “the final arbiters” of his case. The report confirming 1stLt Skipper’s non-selection for his Fiscal Year 2024 Special Selection Board to Captain was denied on June 4, 2025 at the Undersecretary of War’s Manpower and Readiness section.
Making an appeal to the Under Secretary, 1stLt Skipper said, “Your office has the power to halt my administrative separation, compel a new and legally compliant review of my religious accommodation, and initiate a full audit of the Marine Corps’ discriminatory policies.”
Sadly, this is not the first time the Marine Corps officer has been subjected to such treatment. During the COVID-19 mandate, his legal team with Liberty Counsel had to intervene when his command gave him a two-day notice to separate, denied him SkillBridge transition training, and attempted to force him to move his family across the country at his own expense. In his opinion, allowing this process to continue would “set a dangerous precedent, signaling to service members that their constitutional freedoms are subservient to a condemned and flawed administrative process.”
Establishing a Task Force for a Fair and Free Military
According to both interviewees, there is an institutional problem that requires a comprehensive solution. Younts pointed out, “Secretary Hegseth has the authority to create task forces to address systemic issues and cut through bureaucracy.”
He and 1stLt Skipper call upon Secretary Hegseth and Under Secretary Tata to establish a joint task force on military religious freedom. “This task force, leveraging the existing authority of the USW(P&R) to oversee and evaluate personnel plans and programs, should be charged with a top-to-bottom audit of all religious accommodation and promotion review processes across the Marine Corps,” Younts argued. “The goal is to identify and eliminate policies and practices that are inconsistent with judicial precedent and to ensure that a service member’s constitutional rights are not sacrificed for bureaucratic convenience.”
1stLt Skipper disclosed that the office of Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) has already “engaged in this fight,” sending a formal inquiry to the Department of the Navy and as of Monday her office received a brief two-page memo with no new information. Appealing to the Mississippi senator, he is now requesting her to “leverage congressional oversight authority to demand records, compel a formal briefing from the Marine Corps, and expose the systemic failures that have led to the persecution of a Mississippian constituent.”
To Stuart Scheller, Senior Advisor to the War Department Under Secretary, 1stLt Skipper said, “You are a voice of accountability and moral courage who has publicly criticized a military promotion system that you believe incentivizes conformity over the real ability to push back on bad ideas, [adding] my case is a perfect embodiment of the issues you have so bravely highlighted.”
Younts said, “There may be good reason to call upon the Commandant and MajGen Bligh to explain their roles in a process that has been condemned by federal courts and is being used to destroy the career of an exemplary officer.” He also recommended the establishment of task force to “reform these broken systems, making 1stLt Skipper’s case a catalyst for the systemic change you have advocated for.”
“First Lieutenant Skipper’s case is a profound moral test for the Marine Corps. It asks whether the Corps will uphold the constitutional rights of its service members or continue a policy of institutional discrimination,” said Younts. “The time for a final injustice has not yet come. With the immediate and decisive intervention of Pentagon leadership, there is still an opportunity to prove that the uniform and the conscience can coexist.”
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