Several members of the U.S. Marines are still fighting the U.S. Department of Defense in a lawsuit they filed over its August 2021 COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

The DOD asked the court to dismiss the case after Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was forced to drop the mandate by Congress. President Joe Biden, who strongly opposed repealing the mandate, agreed to repealing it when he signed the National Defense Authorization Act into law in December.

Liberty Counsel, the Orlando-based religious freedom legal advocacy organization representing Navy and Marine Corps service members, filed a motion with the court on Wednesday asking it to continue the case.

It pointed to statements made in the Defense secretary’s latest guidance that indicate he would enact another COVID-vaccine mandate in the future and to the administration’s argument that the district court has no jurisdiction over military matters, a claim the presiding judge refutes.

In Colonel Financial Management Officer, United States Marine Corps, et al., v. Lloyd Austin, Liberty Counsel asked Judge Steven Merryday with the U.S. District Court Middle District of Florida to deny the DOD’s motion to dismiss and to set a trial date to adjudicate the plaintiffs’ claims for declaratory relief. Liberty Counsel is also asking the judge to issue a permanent injunction to ban any future related mandates.

The DOD rescinded the mandate after thousands of service members were denied religious accommodation requests (RARs) to exempt them from taking a COVID-19 vaccine only available through Emergency Use Authorization.

Those who objected on religious grounds argued that taking the experimental drug didn’t prevent transmission of the coronavirus and its use of aborted fetal cells violated their sincerely held religious beliefs.

Nearly all RARs were denied across all military branches and service members faced “cruel and unusual punishment,” demotion and dishonorable discharge, according to briefs filed with the court.

The DOD argues the case is moot because the mandate was rescinded in compliance with the NDAA. Liberty Counsel argues it isn’t because Austin in his latest guidance said he retains the authority to reinstate a COVID-19 mandate in the future, expressed support for mandates, and has yet to acknowledge that branch-wide rejections of RARs violated the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

Liberty Counsel argues that the only thing the NDAA required regarding the vaccine mandate was to rescind the August 24, 2021, memorandum. “The policy for reviewing and granting religious accommodations clearly violated RFRA and that same policy and practice is not affected by the NDAA,” it notes, which is why it’s asking Merryday to issue a permanent injunction and declaratory relief “to stop the ongoing violation of RFRA.”