Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit in response to the White House’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal contractors. Through a federal court in Galveston, Paxton hopes to the vaccine will be declared unlawful and a preliminary order will be issued to bar the mandate from being enforced.
“[The Biden administration is] using subterfuge to accomplish what they cannot achieve directly—universal compliance with their vaccine mandates, regardless of individual preferences, healthcare needs, or religious beliefs,” the lawsuit states, according to The Hill.
“Defendants effectively claim for themselves a general police power to control American life, infringing on states’ sovereignty and usurping the powers reserved to the states under the Constitution.”
Texas joins a long list of states that has challenged the federal vaccine mandate that includes Florida, Georgia, West Virginia, Utah, South Carolina, Idaho, Kansas and Alabama. Thus far, the Biden administration has stuck to its original stance and not budged to GOP pushback.
“[The Biden administration] does not have the ability to strip individuals of their choice to get a vaccine or not,” Paxton said in a statement obtained by The Hill.
“If the President thinks his patience is wearing thin, he is clearly underestimating the lack of patience from Texans whose rights he is infringing.”
If Paxton and company are unsuccessful, the mandate will go into effect on December 8.
