A U.S. District Court ruled in favor of Texas by granting an injunction against the Biden administration’s order forcing all healthcare workers to be vaccinated against Covid-19.
The United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas Amarillo Division nullified a rule from Centers for Medicare and Medicare Services that mandated all healthcare workers in facilities funded by Medicare and Medicaid to be vaccinated.
In the ruling, Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk, a Trump appointee, affirmed that “A federal agency has no power to act absent Congressional power conferring it such authority.”
“The A.P.A. requires courts to ‘hold unlawful and set aside agency action’ found to be ‘in excess of statutory jurisdiction, authority, or limitations, or short of statutory right.’ 5 U.S.C. § 706(2)(A), (C). Therefore, ‘to permit an agency to expand its power in the face of a congressional limitation on its jurisdiction would be to grant the agency power to override Congress,” Kacsmaryk added.
The ruling further undermines the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) use of sections from the Social Security act to justify mandating vaccines. Judge Kacsmaryk points out that those sections “do not mention vaccines, let alone health or safety.”
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton responded to the victory, saying, “This is a win for liberty. The federal government does not have the ability to make health decisions for hard-working Americans. These unconstitutional mandates have no place in our country, and they are not welcomed here in Texas.”
This victory is just one of many for the Lone Star State.
A federal appellate court also restored Gov. Gregg Abbott’s executive order prohibiting school districts from mandating students to wear masks.
