Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/21a477_1bo2.pdf
Page Number: 10

Cite as:  595 U. S. ____ (2022) 

7 

ALITO, J., dissenting 

in  the  Department  of  Defense  Dictionary  of  Military  and 
Associated  Terms  (DOD  Dictionary).3    And  as  defined  in 
that dictionary, the terms seemingly allow the Navy to do
just about anything it wants short of punishing respondents 
and drumming them out of the service.

“Deployment” is defined as “[t]he movement of forces into 
and out of an operational area,”4 and an “operational area” 
seems  to  mean  any  “geographic  are[a]”  where  the  Navy
might carry out “a strategic, operational, tactical, service,
training, or administrative military mission.”5  Thus, send-
ing a respondent somewhere for training or administrative
purposes may constitute a deployment. 

The  term  “assignment”  appears  to  include  detailing  an
individual to perform any duties on something more than a
temporary basis.6  And an “operational decision” apparently
can include the carrying out of any “strategic, operational, 
tactical,  service,  training,  or  administrative  military  mis-
sion.”7 

Putting all this together, it appears that the Court’s order
allows the Navy to use respondents’ unvaccinated status as
a reason for directing them to perform whatever duties or 
functions the Navy wants, including sitting alone in a room 

—————— 

3 See  DOD  Dictionary  (Nov.  2021),  https://www.jcs.mil/Portals/36/

Documents/Doctrine/pubs/dictionary.pdf.

4 Id., at 62. 
5 Id., at 159. 
6 The DOD Dictionary does not define “assignment,” but the term “as-

sign” is given this complex definition: 

“1. To place units or personnel in an organization where such place-
ment is relatively permanent, and/or where such organization controls 
and  administers  the  units  or  personnel  for  the  primary  function,  or 
greater portion of the functions, of the unit or personnel. 2. To detail in-
dividuals to specific duties or functions where such duties or functions 
are primary and/or relatively permanent.”  Id., at 20. 

7 The specific term “operational decision” is not defined, but the defini-
tion of “operation” includes “the carrying out of a strategic, operational,
tactical,  service,  training,  or  administrative  military  mission.”    Id.,  at 
159.