Richard Arnold, et al. v. Carlos Del Toro, Secretary of the Navy, et al.

Background and Context The petitioners are 21 Navy Non-liturgical (a.k.a., “Evangelical”) chaplains, see Glossary. They are the remainder of a group of 65 Non-liturgical chaplains who challenged Navy denominational prejudice and favoritism, most evident in chaplain promotions, in three separate cases filed in 1999, 2000 and 2006, consolidated into In re Navy Chaplaincy, 07-m c-269 (D.D.C.). In 2006, the district court informally separated Petitioners’ claims into systemic claims against promotion procedures and other policies and individual claims including retaliation, constructive discharge, and interference with Petitioners’ religious speech. The district court granted summary judgment to the Navy in 2018 on the systemic claims, and then severed Petitioners’ never previously addressed individual claims. In responding to the Navy’s motion to dismiss the severed claims, the district court held its decision on the systemic claims was res judicata for Petitioners’ individual claims, which the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit affirmed.