Oklahoma Attorney General John O’ Connor has joined a 24-state lawsuit to block President Biden’s mandate for COVID-19 precautions within Head Start programs.
The lawsuit, led by Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, takes aim of the president's requirement that children within Head Start programs wear face masks and Head Start teachers and staff be vaccinated by Jan. 31, 2022.
“This unconstitutional mandate for pre-school students, staff, and volunteers will cause mayhem for educators and low-income families in Oklahoma. My office will continue to fight for the rights of Oklahomans and defend the rule of law against the Biden Administration’s burdensome overreach,” O’Connor said.
Attorney General Landry says requiring Head Start teachers, contractors and volunteers to get vaccinated will impact jobs and programming.
“Like all of his other unlawful attempts to impose medical decisions on Americans, Biden’s overreaching orders to mask two-year-olds and force vaccinate teachers in our underserved communities will cost jobs and impede child development,” added Attorney General Landry. “If enacted, Biden’s authoritarianism will cut funding, programs, and childcare that working families, single mothers, and elderly raising grandchildren rely on desperately.”
Head Start is a federal program that provides early childhood education and resources, including diapers, to low-income children and their families.
The attorneys general who signed onto the lawsuit argue that the mandate exceeds presidential authority, contradicts law and violates the APA’s Notice-and-Comment Requirement, the Congressional Review Act, the Nondelegation Doctrine, the Tenth Amendment, the Anti-Commandeering Doctrine, the Spending Clause, and the Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act of 1999.
Joining Attorneys General O’Connor and Landry in the lawsuit are the Attorneys General from Louisiana, Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Wyoming, and West Virginia.
View a copy of the filings here and here.
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