U.S. District Court Judge James Wesley Hendrix on Friday issued a preliminary injunction ordering the federal government to refrain from enforcing mask or vaccine mandates on staff and students under the Head Start programs. The order was issued in response to Texas and Lubbock Independent School District's request for a temporary restraining order.
According to CBN News, the Lubbock Independent School District is currently challenging an order from the Department of Health and Human Services that required all staff and volunteers at the Head Start programs to be fully vaccinated against COVID by January 31. The order also requires all students and staff to wear masks in indoor settings.
Head Start, which is funded by the government, is a program that "promotes the school readiness of children from birth to age five from low-income families by enhancing their cognitive, social, and emotional development," as per Benefits.gov. The district said it has statements from some parents who said they would no longer allow their children to attend the program and employees who said they would quit if Head Start would implement the mask or vaccine mandate, KCBD-TV reported.
Lubbock Independent School District Superintendent Kathy Rollo testified in front of the court that requiring children to wear face masks is a distraction and that it was more difficult for students to learn when their teacher's faces were concealed. On Saturday, Texas lawmakers including Gov. Greg Abbott celebrated the win over federal mask and vaccine mandates, taking to Twitter to share, "Texas just beat Biden again."
"Another of Biden's vaccine & mask mandates was just halted by a federal judge in Texas," the Republican leader remarked on Twitter. "The Court writes: 'It is undisputed that an agency cannot act without Congressional authorization.' That would apply to all of Biden's orders."
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who filed the lawsuit over the Biden administration's mask and vaccine mandates for Head Start programs, also took to Twitter to celebrate the success, writing, "I just halted another illegal fed vax & mask mandate. Thanks to my suit(first of its kind in the nation), [President Joe Biden] is barred from using the Head Start Program to force vax & masks in TX-both of which this Admin embarrassingly admitted don't stop Covid anyway! HAPPY NEW YEAR!"
On Sunday, Paxton criticized the Biden administration for coming up with mask and vaccine mandates without the approval of Congress during an appearance at "Fox & Friends Weekend." The Texas Attorney General explained that President Biden does not have "legal authority" to enforce vaccine mandates and "make Americans choose between their health or their jobs."
Paxton argued that the federal government under President Biden's leadership cannot just "make up laws without Congress passing them." He reiterated how the Biden administration must follow the U.S. Constitution as "implementers of the law."
Meanwhile, Texas recorded 10,892 new COVID cases on Thursday, Yahoo! News reported. Because of this, Gov. Abbott, who is famously opposed to vaccine mandates and other COVID precautionary measures, has requested "resources for federally-supported testing locations and medical personnel and additional federal allocations of monoclonal antibodies" from the government.
