A United States federal judge said President Joe Biden is not a monarch who can order teachers vaccinated and toddlers masked.
“If the executive branch is allowed to usurp the power of the legislative branch to make laws, then this country is no longer
a democracy—it is a monarchy,” opined U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty in a 32-page judicial order issued on Saturday.
Judge Doughty agreed with the 24 states who sued the Biden administration in his Monroe, Louisiana court. He granted their request for a restraining order and injunction that puts an immediate stop to the vaccine mandate requiring vaccinations for Head Start. His ruling further prevents toddlers (two years of age and older) from being forced to wear face masks indoors and during outdoor activities that involve close contact with others.
Head Start programs are federally-funded for young children from low-income families. The program’s Twitter account includes a post explaining the mask mandates for toddlers.
“When this country’s founders declared independence on July 4, 1776, they sought a government much different from one involving the dictatorship of a king,” wrote the Trump-appointed judge.
The states who signed on as plaintiffs in the legal action argue Biden and his administration enacted unconstitutional mandates for masks and vaccinations.
“Only Congress, as the legislative branch, has the authority to make laws,” they submitted. “The executive branch must take care that the laws be faithfully executed. Because the executive branch cannot make laws, it is given its power through acts of Congress.”
Judge Doughty disagreed with the Biden administration’s claim that they had the authority to issue the mandates under title 42 of the U.S. Code.
The Louisiana district court judge pointed to several high court opinions he deemed relevant. One was an Antonin Scalia decision in a 2014 case against the Environmental Protection Agency.
“When an agency claims to discover in a long-extant statute an unheralded power to regulate a significant portion of the American economy, we typically greet its announcement with a measure of skepticism,” Scalia wrote.
Doughty seemed equally skeptical of similarly expansive claims by Biden administrators in their effort to combat COVID-19.
“If Congress intended to allow OHS to be able to mandate vaccines for Head Start staff, volunteers, and contractors, Congress certainly hid it well,” opined the Trump appointee.
He scoffed at the Biden administration’s argument that the Head Start mandate is allowed because it does not have vast economic and political significance. Doughty noted this mandate applies to 273,600 Head Start staff, 864,000 children, and about one million volunteers.
Doughty noted the enduring pandemic has fatigued the country but scolded that it is not an excuse to forego the separation of powers.
“If the walls of separation fall, the system of checks and balances created by the founders of this country will be destroyed,” said Doughty.
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