Attorney General Steve Marshall on Tuesday filed suit against the Biden administration to block its recently issued Head Start mandates requiring mask-wearing for pupils and COVID-19 vaccination for staff.
The administration’s mandate requires all Head Start personnel to wear face masks at all times and to be fully vaccinated by the end of January. The rule also forces students ages two years and older to wear face coverings.
According to the attorney general’s office, the Alabama Department of Human Resources and the Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education, as well as the state’s Head Start teachers, staff, volunteers and students would be affected by the mandate.
Marshall’s office advised that federal funding could be at risk for pre-school entities that are found to be in violation of the mandate.
The State of Alabama’s lawsuit contends that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) holds no legal authority to issue such a mandate. Additionally, the lawsuit argues that the rule stands in conflict with Alabama’s vaccine passport ban due to it forcing state government entities to enforce the mandate.
In announcing the lawsuit, Marshall asserted that the state would continue to combat the federal government’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
“The Biden administration clearly has no plans to back down from its errant pursuit of nationwide vaccination,” declared Marshall. “Likewise, the State of Alabama has no plans to back down from its righteous pursuit of nationwide injunctions.”
The attorney general suggested that children residing in rural areas could be placed in jeopardy of losing pre-school access should centers lose federal funding due to noncompliance.
“The victims of these mandates will not be ‘the unvaccinated,’ as President Biden would like you to believe. Rather, the harm will be felt by the rural pre-school children who will be left with no place to go if their centers are shut down,” he added. “A program that the federal government created is at risk of being destroyed by those who claim to care most about its participants.”
The lawsuit, filed in the Western District of Louisiana, is led by Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry.
Marshall accompanied the attorneys general of Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming in filing the lawsuit.
Dylan Smith is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @DylanSmithAL
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