Biden is getting all kinds of pushback over his bogus, illegal and unconstitutional COVID-19 vaccine mandates, as evidenced by the dozens of lawsuits that have been filed to block it by states, private entities, advocacy groups and political organizations.
And so far, the plaintiffs have been on the right side of the law and our founding document: The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans has twice ruled that the mandate is overly broad, inappropriate and unconstitutional, which led the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the agency that actually issued the mandate, to announce it was suspending enforcement of the rule for the time being.
But that hasn't stopped federal entities from continuing to enforce Biden's mandate, and that includes the Defense Department. Now, however, one military department -- the Oklahoma National Guard -- is resisting, which has led to a stiff, albeit predictable, response from the Pentagon, as The Epoch Times is reporting:
The Pentagon on Monday said it has the authority to require members of the National Guard to get vaccinated against COVID-19 after the Oklahoma National Guard’s newly appointed commander refused to impose a vaccine mandate ordered by the Defense Department.
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told reporters that U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin “has the authorities he needs to require this vaccine across the force, including the National Guard.”
Kirby later added during a news briefing that it is “a lawful order for National Guardsmen to receive the COVID vaccine.”
“It is a lawful order,” he repeated. “Refusing to do that, absent an approved exemption, puts them in the same potential [for punishment] as active-duty members who refuse the vaccine.”
?READ: One of first actions taken by new Oklahoma National Guard Adjutant Gen. Thomas Mancino: rescind the #COVID19 vaccine requirement for Guardsmen.
According to memo, however, if they are federally mobilized, members will have to be vaccinated. @OKCFOX pic.twitter.com/cHozZx7zqE
— Dan Snyder (@DanSnyderFOX25) November 12, 2021
The Pentagon's threat comes after Oklahoma Brig. Gen. Thomas Mancino wrote in a policy memorandum on Nov. 11 stating that “no Oklahoma Guardsmen be required to take the COVID-19 Vaccine.”
“Notwithstanding any other Federal requirement. Oklahoma Command’s will continue to process Federal vaccine waivers in accordance with DoD policy. Additionally, no negative administrative or legal action will be taken against Guardsmen who refuse the COVID-19 Vaccine,” the memo goes on to say.
For Kirby to argue that the Pentagon's vaccine mandate "is a lawful order" is absurd; a federal court has just ruled that it isn't, and until that court is overturned and/or the question is adjudicated fully, meaning the Supreme Court has ruled on it, then that mandate isn't worth the paper it is written on, and neither, then, is the Pentagon's order.
Plus, what is the Defense Department going to do -- cite every single member of the Oklahoma National Guard who doesn't take the vaccine? While state Guard units receive a lot of federal funding, they are still primarily under the control of governors, not the president or the Pentagon. They are the descendants of the old state militias and as such, their allegiance is, first and foremost, to their state commanders.
Or at least, that's how it used to be. And Mancino, who has been in the Guard for more than three decades, knows that. In his memo, he stated that Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt is the “lawful Commander in Chief” of all Oklahoma National Guardsmen unless they’re federally mobilized under Title 10 of the U.S. Code.
Case closed. The Pentagon can rail all it wants to, but the law is the law.
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