Gov. Abbott to Nat'l Guard Regarding Biden: 'He's Not Your Commander in Chief'
If there is one thing that we know about Texas and the proud people that inhabit her, there is no shortage of gusto and independence within them.
This has been especially true during the coronavirus pandemic, with the Lone Star State taking an aggressively pro-freedom stance, particularly when it comes to bucking back against the federal government’s possibly-unconstitutional vaccine mandates.
This week, as Governor Greg Abbott awaits a ruling by the federal government regarding an exemption for the Texas regiment of the National Guard, he made a profoundly powerful statement to these brave men and women…and Washington surely took notice.
On Tuesday, the Republican governor, who is facing challenges from his political right in a reelection bid next year, threatened to file a federal lawsuit challenging the Biden administration’s authority to order troops to be inoculated against COVID-19.
“Unless President Biden federalizes the Texas National Guard in accordance with Title 10 of the U.S. Code, he is not your commander-in-chief under our federal or state Constitutions,” Abbott said in a letter for Maj. Gen. Tracy Norris, the adjutant general of the Texas National Guard. “And as long as I am your commander-in-chief, I will not tolerate efforts to compel receipt of a COVID-19 vaccine.”
Abbott wasn’t alone in his concerns.
Abbott, along with at least six other Republican governors including Oklahoma, Wyoming, Alaska, Iowa, Mississippi and Nebraska, have asked the Pentagon to exempt their Guardsmen from coronavirus vaccine mandates, asserting their authority while troops serve under their command.
The Biden administration has been loathsomely reticent to grant many, or any exemptions to their federal vaccine mandate as of yet, drawing criticism from all angles.