Gov. Abbott Takes Biden, Austin To Court Over National Guard Vaccine Mandate

Gov. Greg Abbott, R-Texas, has filed a lawsuit against President Joe Biden, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, and other members of the administration over the vaccine mandate issued for National Guard troops.

In the lawsuit, Abbott said that “neither the President nor federal military officials can order the Governor of Texas and state officials how to govern the Guardsmen under their command.”

Abbott argued that the defendants, including Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall III and Army Secretary Christine Wormuth, “unilaterally severed the division between state and federal authority” over the military vaccine mandate. The lawsuit added that the mandate was violating Texas state laws and infringes on Abbott’s “authority as Commander in Chief and on Texas’s sovereignty.”

The lawsuit further revealed that more than 220 members of the Texas Air National Guard have refused to get vaccinated for religious reasons or otherwise, and about 40% of Texas Army National Guard members refused COVID-19 vaccines.

In an official statement regarding the lawsuit, the Texas governor’s office said that Abbott “reminds everyone in his chain of command not to punish any member of the Texas National Guard for choosing not to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.” The statement added that Abbott previously sent a letter to Austin, informing the Secretary of Defense that Texas will not impose the vaccine mandate on the state’s National Guard.

The lawsuit comes after Texas District Judge Reed O’Connor moved Monday to stop the U.S. Navy from punishing 35 sailors for refusing vaccines on religious grounds, KDFW reported. O’Connor said “the Navy servicemembers in this case seek to vindicate the very freedoms they have sacrificed so much to protect,” adding that “there is no COVID-19 exception to the First Amendment. There is no military exclusion from our Constitution.”

Abbott isn’t the first GOP governor to have opposed the mandate. Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt also took his opposition to court to block the vaccine requirement from being enforced in his state. However, Oklahoma Judge Stephen Friot denied Stitt’s request, CNN reported.

Last month, GOP governors of Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, Alaska, and Mississippi sent a joint letter to Austin, requesting for their states’ National Guardsmen to be exempted from the mandate. The governors said requiring Guardsmen to be vaccinated and enforcing punishments “are beyond” Austin’s “constitutional and statutory authority.”

The New York Times reported that the Pentagon has not yet granted a religious exemption for any service member and has only granted a few exemptions for medical issues and for servicemen set to leave the military.