A federal judge on Tuesday ruled that Oklahoma National Guard members must get vaccinated against Covid-19, denying an attempt by the state’s GOP governor to halt the Pentagon’s vaccine mandate.
U.S. District Judge Stephen Friot in his ruling rejected Gov. Kevin Stitt’s argument that the Pentagon overstepped its authority when Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin issued a military-wide vaccine mandate to fight the coronavirus.
“First, adding a tenth FDA-approved vaccine to the list of nine that all service members are already required to take would hardly amount to ‘an enormous and transformative expansion [of the] regulatory authority’ the Secretary of Defense already possesses,” Friot wrote in his 29-page ruling.
“And, to say no more on this point, there is nothing ‘transformative’ about a force protection measure first conceived and enforced by General George Washington when he required members of the Continental Army to be inoculated against smallpox,” he said.
Friot noted that the National Guard, which is generally overseen by governors, has historically been included in military-wide vaccine mandates.
Stitt’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The ruling deals a blow to efforts by GOP officials who have pushed back against the Biden administration’s vaccination requirements. President Joe Biden’s mandates for both the private and public sector have faced numerous legal challenges, with the Supreme Court saying last week it would take up two of those cases.
Austin issued his Covid vaccine order for all service members on Aug. 24 and directed the secretaries of the military services to set their own implementation guidance and timelines. The mandate extended to all service members on active duty or in the Ready Reserve, including the National Guard, which has more than 400,000 members.
Stitt last month called on Austin to rescind the mandate for members of the Oklahoma National Guard. He then appointed a new adjutant general of the Oklahoma National Guard, who said he would not enforce Austin’s mandate. Earlier this month, the Republican governors of Alaska, Iowa, Mississippi, Nebraska, Texas and Wyoming also objected to the Pentagon’s mandate.
In Tuesday’s ruling, Friot urged the Pentagon to give members of the Oklahoma National Guard a “grace period” regarding the mandate.
“The court strongly urges the defendants to give every consideration to providing a brief grace period – to facilitate prompt compliance with the vaccination mandate – before directly or indirectly taking action which would end the military careers of any Oklahoma Guard members,” he said.
The Oklahoma National Guard has about 8,000 members, who face a June deadline for complying with the Covid vaccine mandate.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
