Gov. Greg Abbott has won a lawsuit against the Biden administration’s mandate that Texas National Guard members take the COVID-19 vaccine.
The Biden administration required that national guardsmen be vaccinated by June 2022.
Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby threatened, “If they don’t, then they, too, can be held to account under the [Uniform Code of Military Justice] for failure to obey a lawful order,” according to Department of Defense News.
As the commander-in-chief of the Texas National Guard, Abbott sued the federal government in January 2022 to stop the mandate.
In a letter to Major General Tracy Norris of the Texas National Guard dated January 4, 2022, Abbott wrote, “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.”
“As long as long as I am your commander-in-chief, I will not tolerate efforts to compel receipt of a COVID-19 vaccine,” he continued.
“President Biden must be held accountable for his unconscionable willingness to hollow out the Texas National Guard,” Abbott concluded the letter.
On Monday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit condemned Biden’s actions as a violation of the U.S. Constitution.
“The President of the United States asserts the power to punish members of the Texas National Guard who have not been called into national service,” Judge Andrew Oldham explained in his decision. “The Constitution and laws of the United States, however, deny him that power.”
“In this case, President Biden imposed and then repealed a mandate requiring State militiamen to take the COVID-19 vaccine. And now that the President has rescinded the vaccine requirement, he wants to retain the power to punish militia members who refused to get the shots while the mandate was in effect — all without calling them into national service,” Oldham said.
“We reject the President’s assertion of power because it would undermine one of the most important compromises in the Constitution. If the Constitution’s text, history, and tradition make anything clear, it’s that the President can punish members of the Texas militia only after calling them into federal service,” the judge explained.
“Unless and until the Texas militia is federalized, Governor Abbott retains exclusive authority to punish his militiamen and otherwise govern them,” the decision said. “That’s because (1) the Constitution’s text clearly says so, and (2) Founding-era history reinforces that straightforward reading of the text.”
The Office of the Attorney General of Texas applauded the court’s decision, explaining in a press release, “The National Guard, from its inception, has been deemed a militia that is under the control of the state governor unless federalized into national service.”
“Biden’s unlawful effort to punish state guardsmen who refused the Covid-19 vaccine violated the Constitution by contradicting this long-standing structure that ensures separation of powers,” the statement added.
“In addition, although the Biden Administration contended that the mandate was necessary to ensure military ‘readiness,’ the Administration repealed the mandate in 2023, revealing that it had no relation to readiness,” the OAG continued. “Meanwhile, however, the Administration continued to threaten punishment for past disobedience against guard members who had not complied.”
“Threats of federal punishment against Texas Guardsman included court-martial, discharge, prohibition of drills and other duties, and withholding of pay,” the statement concluded.
Critics attacked Abbott following the decision, with Michael Blitz, a former professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, writing, “You beat Biden? You beat the President? It’s a competition to you? A game? You’re proud of being a neo-Nazi wannabe? You’re puffed about allowing children to be slaughtered? You’re beating your chest for being anti-science? You’re pleased with yourself for protecting rapists?”
Author L. E. Kinzie similarly said, “Maybe focus on being the child murder [capital of] the country & quit Cos-playing. Pathetic. Someone competent run against this phony.”
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