Texas Governor Abbott has sued the Biden administration as around 40 percent of his state’s National Guard has not gotten the COVID-19 vaccine mandated by the federal government, The Daily Mail reported.
Abbott filed suit Tuesday in Texas, asking a federal judge to overturn Biden’s vaccine requirement, in a filing that repeatedly invokes Abbott’s own authority as commander in chief of the guard, which is subject to complex jurisdiction.
The deadline for troops to get vaccinated was December 31st. According to Abbott’s suit, 40 percent of members of the Texas Army National Guard under his command are refusing to get the shot for religious or other reasons.
“Defendants’ intrusion into the discretion and scope of Title 32 commanders is contrary to the balance of power between federal and state officials set out by the U.S. Constitution and federal law,” the Texas governor said in the lawsuit.
“It is unlawful for Defendants to attempt to override the Governor’s authority to govern his troops, and then leave him to deal with the harms that they leave in their wake,” he said.
The lawsuit cites the constitution of the state of Texas and says that the defendants’ actions “directly infringe on Governor Abbott’s authority as commander-in-chief and on Texas’s sovereignty, and so harm Governor Abbott and Texas.”
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