Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced Tuesday that he is suing the Biden administration to block enforcement of the Defense Department’s vaccine mandate for National Guard members.
In a letter to Major General Tracy Norris, the Adjutant General of the Texas Military Department, Abbott told members of the Texas National Guard serving under his authority that he was suing on their behalf. “As the commander-in-chief of Texas’s militia, I have issued a straightforward order to every member of the Texas National Guard within my chain of command: Do not punish any guardsman for choosing not to receive a COVID-19 vaccine,” Abbott wrote. “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.”
“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. And as long as I am your commander-in-chief, I will not tolerate efforts to compel receipt of a COVID-19 vaccine. To the extent the DoD vaccine mandate conflicts with the order I have given, my order controls,” Abbot continued.
Abbott then spoke in grave terms about the Biden administration’s mandate and the difficulties it poses to Guardsmen who refuse to comply. “While I refuse to be commandeered into doing the federal government’s work,” Abbot wrote, “President Biden still poses a career-ending threat to Texas’s unvaccinated guardsmen.” He addressed those provisions in the Defense Department’s mandate which allow the DOD to prohibit Guardsmen from participating in federally-required training and drills, which would deprive them of pay, retirement benefits, and potentially cause them to be dismissed from the Guard.
“Let me be crystal clear: It is the federal government that has put Texas’s guardsmen in this difficult position,” Abbot asserted. “As your commander-in-chief, I will fight on your behalf. That is why I am suing the Biden Administration over its latest unconstitutional vaccine mandate.”
Abbott did concede the possibility that he would lose, as well as the possibility that President Joe Biden could federalize the National Guard, thus compelling the entire National Guard to get vaccinated under a direct order. “The federal courts have the power to decide whether President Biden violates the U.S. Constitution’s Second Militia Clause by undermining my commander-in-chief power,” Abbott wrote. “I cannot guarantee that the judiciary will grant the relief you deserve. And if President Biden lawfully calls you into the actual service of the United States, then he could order you to receive the COVID-19 vaccine in his newfound role as your commander-in-chief.”
“Win or lose, President Biden must be held accountable for his unconscionable willingness to hollow out the Texas National Guard” Abbott concluded, promising that he would continue to fight on behalf of his National Guardsmen.
Abbott’s lawsuit comes just weeks after a failed effort by Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt to block the vaccine mandate for National Guard members. That lawsuit, which argued some of the same points that Abbott outlined in his letter, was dismissed by a federal judge last week.
The Daily Wire is fighting Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate in federal court. Join us in this fight by signing our petition to OSHA, telling them that you will not comply with this mandate.
Source: Dailywire
