On brand. Always on brand.
Attorney General Ken Paxton, on behalf of the state, sued the Biden administration on Friday over its coronavirus vaccine mandate for federal contractors.
The federal requirement, which is set to take effect Dec. 8, calls on all federal workers and contractors to be vaccinated against COVID-19. The Texas lawsuit comes after similar suits filed by Florida and Georgia, along with several other states.
“The Biden Administration has repeatedly expressed its disdain for Americans who choose not to get a vaccine, and it has committed repeated and abusive federal overreach to force upon Americans something they do not want,” Paxton said in a statement. “The federal government does not have the ability to strip individuals of their choice to get a vaccine or not. If the President thinks his patience is wearing thin, he is clearly underestimating the lack of patience from Texans whose rights he is infringing.”
Paxton and fellow Republican Gov. Greg Abbott have been at war with local and federal officials over vaccinate mandates. Earlier this month, Abbott expanded an executive order to block the requirement for any entity in Texas, including health care facilities and private businesses. He previously banned cities, counties, school districts and state agencies from requiring vaccines. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has tweeted that vaccination “should never be forced on anyone by the state or a private employer.”
The lawsuit alleges the Biden administration acted unconstitutionally in drafting the vaccine mandate policy. It also argues that the administration required congressional approval to enforce it.
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On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday declined to block Maine’s vaccine mandate, though that request came from a group of health care workers who argued their religious liberty rights had been violated because the mandate did not allow for a religious exemption. The highest court has also rejected challenges to vaccine mandates at Indiana University and in a New York City school system.
I took a quick look around Twitter at the national and constitutional lawyers that I follow who often weigh in on this sort of thing, and as of Saturday night none of them had said anything about this. Maybe they all have better things to do with their time, and maybe they think this isn’t worth commenting on. I don’t know. But my sense is that this is mostly a for-show lawsuit, to impress the ravening hordes, and is unlikely to get anywhere. I could be wrong. The one thing I will note is that there are already a lot of employer mandates out there, and they are both getting people vaccinated and making more people comfortable with the idea. So whatever does happen, it may not matter all that much anyway.
This is just 100% electioneering, all they are doing these days. Governing in the best interest of the people? Forget it.
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