Texas Attorney General Sues Biden for Vaccine Mandate on State Troops

[Elderberry]

Texas Scorecard By Jacob Asmussen January 4, 2022

“This is one of the many examples of federal overreach by the Biden Administration that my office is adamantly fighting against.”

The nationwide fight over forced vaccinations continues in a U.S. district court in East Texas.

On Tuesday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against President Joe Biden to stop him from forcing the Texas Army National Guard and the Texas Air National Guard to get injected with coronavirus vaccinations.

“Neither the President nor federal military officials can order the Governor of Texas and non-federalized National Guardsmen to comply with a vaccination mandate or to direct a particular disciplinary action for failure to comply,” Paxton’s office wrote in a press release. “President Biden is not those troops’ commander-in-chief; Governor Abbott is.”

More: https://texasscorecard.com/state/texas-attorney-general-sues-biden-for-vaccine-mandate-on-state-troops/

[Texas Yellow Rose]

 

[Elderberry]

Texas Gov. Abbott sues Biden over military COVID vaccine mandate

American Military News by  Laura Widener 1/5/2022

https://americanmilitarynews.com/2022/01/texas-gov-abbott-sues-biden-over-military-covid-vaccine-mandate/

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced Tuesday he is suing President Joe Biden’s administration over its COVID-19 vaccine mandate, which he described as exerting unconstitutional authority over Texas National Guard members.

In a letter to Texas’ Military Department and Adjutant General Maj. Gen. Tracy Norris, Abbott ordered Norris not to punish Texas National Guard members for not receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, and revealed his intent to sue the federal government.

“Although my order has been in effect for months now, President Biden has muddied the waters with a vaccine mandate from the U.S. Department of Defense,” Abbott said in the letter. “Unless President Biden federalizes the Texas National Guard in accordance with Title 10 of the U.S. Code, he is not your commander-in-chief under our federal or state Constitutions,” Abbott wrote.

Abbott’s lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas on Tuesday and names Biden, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall, Army Secretary Christine Wormuth as defendants.

[Elderberry]

https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/global/images/Abbott%20v%20Biden%20-%20Complaint.pdf

PLAINTIFF’S ORIGINAL COMPLAINT

I. INTRODUCTION

1. There  has  long  been  a  clear  and  distinct  line  between  when  National  Guardsmen  are 
governed  by  state  authority  and  when  they  are  governed  by  federal  authority.  When  National 
Guardsmen are serving the State, the federal government has no command authority. Neither the
President nor federal military officials can order the Governor of Texas and state officials how to
govern the Guardsmen under their command. Under the Constitution’s carefully crafted balance
between  federal  and  state  sovereignty,  only  the  State,  through  its  Governor,  possesses  legal 
authority to govern state National Guard personnel who have not been lawfully federalized.

2. Defendants unilaterally severed the division between state and federal authority over the
Army National Guard and Air National Guard by attempting to impose a mandatory COVID-19
vaccine policy (“Military Vaccine Mandate”) on Guardsmen under state control, and in violation
of Texas state law. Rather than exercise their own authority and lawfully activate the President’s
chain of command, Defendants have attempted to force state officers to do the work for them, in
violation of both the U.S. Constitution and federal laws.

3. This  is  not  a  case  demanding  a  position  of  pro-  or  anti-vaccine,  nor  is  it  a  case  that 
challenges any aspect of the federal government’s authority over National Guardsmen once that
federal authority has been properly established. Instead, this case seeks protection from the federal
government’s unconstitutional action to force Texas, through its Governor, to submit to federal
orders and impose federally dictated disciplinary action on its National Guardsmen. “There is no
military exclusion from our Constitution.” U.S. Navy Seals 1-26 v. Biden, No. 4:21-cv-01236, slip
op.  at  2  (N.D.  Tex.  Jan.  3,  2021).  Therefore,  Plaintiff  Greg  Abbott,  in  his  official  capacity  as 
Governor of the State of Texas, and as Commander in Chief of the Texas National Guard, brings
this  suit  to  enforce  rights  guaranteed  to  the  Governor  and  the  State  of  Texas  by  the  U.S.
Constitution and federal statutes.

More at link.