Florida Office of the Attorney General issued the following announcement on Dec. 21.
Attorney General Ashley Moody is taking legal action challenging President Joe Biden’s unlawful mandates for Head Start staff, teachers and students. Attorney General Moody and attorneys general from 23 other states filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana challenging the requirements. The unlawful requirements include mandatory masks on toddlers and COVID-19 vaccinations for staff and volunteers in Head Start programs.
Attorney General Ashley Moody said, “As a mother, I am very concerned about the latest federal mandates being forced on Head Start staff and students—children as young as two-years old will be required to wear masks and teachers will be forced to receive a vaccination against their will. I am fighting to stop this federal overreach, just as I have fought to protect Floridians against the previous unlawful mandates forced on us by the federal government.”
The Head Start program provides much needed resources to underserved children and their families. The program provides early childhood education and resources, including diapers, to families. If left in place, teachers, contractors and volunteers in Florida Head Start programs will be forced to receive COVID-19 vaccinations by Jan. 31, 2022. This unlawful requirement will lead to job losses and potentially a reduction in programs for children in need.
The 24 states allege in the filing that the Head Start mandate is beyond the Executive Branch’s authority, contrary to law, and is arbitrary and capricious. According to the multistate lawsuit, President Biden’s requirements also violate the Administrative Procedure Act’s Notice-and-Comment Requirement, the Congressional Review Act, the Nondelegation Doctrine, the 10th Amendment, the Anti-Commandeering Doctrine, the Spending Clause, and the Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act of 1999.
Original source can be found here.