Federal judge strikes down Biden's vaccine mandate on Head Start teachers, volunteers

Sep. 21—West Virginia, and a coalition of states, have won another court victory against President Joe Biden's vaccine mandates.

West Virginia was part of a 24-state lawsuit seeking to end Biden's vaccine mandate on Head Start teachers and volunteers and his mask requirement for Head Start toddlers. A federal judge in Louisiana Wednesday issued a permanent injunction against Biden's Head Start mandates.

The state's successfully argued that Biden's COVID-19 vaccine mandate for Head Start staff and volunteers, and his masking requirement for Head Start toddlers, were unlawful, West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said.

"This ruling makes it crystal clear that the imposition of this mandate is unlawful and would only hurt already struggling workers and volunteers in underserved communities," Morrisey said in a prepared statement Wednesday. "This mandate would have ultimately hurt, not helped, the working families, single parents, and grandparents raising grandchildren who desperately depend on programs such as Head Start."

Head Start provides assistance to underserved children, including early childhood education and resources for families. Forcing teachers, contractors, and volunteers in the Head Start programs to be vaccinated would have cost jobs and programming, Morrisey said.

In their lawsuit, the states argued that the Head Start mandate is not only beyond the executive branch's authority and arbitrary and capricious, but it also violates various federal laws passed by Congress.

West Virginia joined the Louisiana-led lawsuit with attorneys general from Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah and Wyoming.

— Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com

— Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com. Follow him @BDTOwens