On Friday, Harmeet Dhillon, the Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Rights Division, shared news regarding Coach Rolovich, who lost his job in 2021 because he declined the vaccine, citing religious reasons.
The announcement stated that the Department of Justice has taken the Rolovich v. Washington State University case to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, asserting support for Coach Rolovich’s right to practice his religion freely.
Dhillon replied, “Yes, we are! Thanks to the whole @CivilRights team who worked on this! @jesus_osete.”
Yes we are! Thanks to the whole @CivilRights team who worked on this! @jesus_osete https://t.co/kNJ6UyMmhU
— Harmeet K. Dhillon (@HarmeetKDhillon) June 20, 2025
In reaction to this legal move, Rolovich, who is now working as the senior offensive assistant coach at the University of California, Berkeley, expressed, “I devoted everything to WSU, only to be dismissed by the administration for my beliefs.”
“I wasn’t looking for a fight—I just asked to live out my beliefs,” he added. “I hope the court will ensure that no coach or player can be forced to choose between their faith and the game they love.”
Joseph Davis, senior counsel at Becket, the nonprofit legal institute helping the coach, said that:
“Washington State sacked its own coach for standing firm in his faith. In America, you have to accommodate religion, not target it just because some on the sidelines complain. The Ninth Circuit should hold Washington State accountable for what it did—and uphold Coach Rolovich’s and every American’s right to stay true to their faith on the job.”
In 2021, we reported that the university had fired Rolovich and four assistant coaches, who all refused to get the jab, as mandated for all Washington state employees by then-state Democratic Governor Jay Inslee.
RedState’s Jerry Wilson wrote at the time:
The Church’s primary dictum regarding COVID vaccination was issued in December of last year [2020]. The document issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Note on the morality of using some anti-Covid-19-vaccines, focused primarily on the ethical issue of Catholics taking a vaccine that, as the document states:
In 2022, RedState’s Bonchie also reported on the coach’s story, and some of the insane details Rolovich shared about the tremendous pressure the university put him under to get vaccinated – humiliating him in the process.
“The AD said ‘Hey, let’s put you on the 50-yard line, we’ll have the team all around you and the doctor will give you the vaccine in front of everybody,’” Rolovich said on ‘The Jason Rantz Show.’
“I said, ‘Absolutely not. I have no desire to do that.’ I wasn’t going to make it a circus.”
That same year, Rolovich fought back by filing a wrongful termination suit against Washington University after refusing to get vaccinated when he was denied a religious exemption,according to the AP.
In January of this year, Washington University celebrated its win against Rolovich after a district judge found the school was justified in terminating him.
This is a developing story. RedState will provide updates as more information becomes available.
