WASHINGTON, DC — Thomas More Society today announced a landmark settlement agreement with the United States Coast Guard that permanently reforms how the Coast Guard evaluates, trains on, and reports religious accommodation requests—securing structural protections for every service member who seeks to live out their faith in uniform. No other service branch has incorporated religious liberty protections as strong as those secured under Jackson v. Mullin (formerly Jackson v. Mayorkas).

"Religious accommodation requests cannot be treated as a box-checking exercise," said Peter Breen, Executive Vice President and Head of Litigation at Thomas More Society. "Under this historic settlement, the Coast Guard must evaluate each service member's request on its own merits—not invoke blanket institutional interests to deny them all. This is a model for every branch of the military."

The settlement requires the Coast Guard to make four structural changes to how it handles religious accommodation requests, plus service-wide acknowledgment and relief for the plaintiffs and over a thousand other service members:

Individualized review: Before denying a religious accommodation request, the Coast Guard must now show that granting an exception to the specific service member would seriously harm a critical military interest—with no less restrictive alternative available. Blanket institutional concerns no longer suffice. The standard applies to every future request: immunizations, grooming standards, duty assignments, and beyond.

Command-wide training: Mandatory religious accommodation training is now required across Coast Guard leadership courses, legal qualification standards, and chaplain onboarding for a minimum of three years. Materials, developed with input from Thomas More Society attorneys, will be posted publicly online.

Public reporting: For at least three years, the Coast Guard will publish approval and denial data for religious accommodation requests on its public website.

Public affirmation of religious liberty: The Coast Guard will post a statement recognizing accommodation of sincerely held religious beliefs as "a pillar of the Coast Guard's commitment to treating all service members with dignity and respect."

Relief for plaintiffs and other service members: The Commandant will issue a service-wide message acknowledging that the policy at issue was "unlawful as implemented and an unfair, overbroad, and completely unnecessary burden on service members." Related reprimands and records will be expunged, and the Coast Guard will not discriminate against affected service members going forward.

The plaintiffs—Lt. Alaric Stone, Lt. Mack Marcenelle, and (recently retired) BM1 Eric Jackson—were three of more than 1,000 Coast Guard service members who sought religious accommodations from a 2021 service-wide vaccination mandate. Only a handful were granted, almost exclusively for service members already planning to leave the Coast Guard. Lt. Stone—the top graduate of the Coast Guard Academy class of 2020—and fellow service members who had submitted accommodation requests were told by their commanding officer, "I don't want to discuss your religious beliefs because frankly, they don't matter to me."

"I am thrilled with this incredible settlement and grateful for Thomas More Society's time, effort, resources, and dedication," said Lt. Stone. "For years, the Thomas More Society team worked tirelessly on behalf of us and our fellow religious service members to achieve this great victory for religious freedom—helping us to stand strong in our faith as we serve our nation."

Lt. Marcenelle added: "We were wrongly accused of violating lawful orders. This settlement sets things right once and for all and recognizes the lawful religious freedoms of all Coast Guard service members. Thank you to Thomas More Society for helping achieve this."

Thomas More Society filed Jackson v. Mullin in September 2022 as a federal class action, alleging violations of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the First Amendment, and the Administrative Procedure Act. After Thomas More Society sought emergency relief as the Coast Guard began slating plaintiffs for discharge, the service halted discharges and the underlying mandate was ultimately rescinded. Plaintiffs secured a victory in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals before the present settlement.

"This was a long and difficult road for our clients, and they walked it with extraordinary grace and conviction," said Steve Crampton, Senior Counsel at Thomas More Society. "We're grateful to the Trump Administration for working with us in good faith to reach a resolution that doesn't just close this chapter—it strengthens religious liberty protections for every Coast Guard service member who will ever need it. That's the legacy our clients fought for."

Lts. Stone and Marcenelle, together with attorney Steve Crampton, will appear in an upcoming video detailing the Trump Administration’s work in eradicating anti-Christian bias, for which they thank the President and his team.

BM1 Jackson previously submitted testimony to the Religious Liberty Commission, available here. As part of the settlement, the government will pay $750,000 in attorneys' fees and expenses. All service members who sought religious accommodations in connection with the 2021 mandate are named third-party beneficiaries with independent enforcement rights. A copy of the settlement agreement in Jackson v. Mullin is available here.

The views of plaintiff service members presented herein are their personal views and do not necessarily represent the views of the Coast Guard.