Peach Tree Times

As infections from COVID-19 continue to rise, Gov. Brian Kemp and Attorney General Chris Carr filed a lawsuit to oppose the Biden administration’s Head Start vaccine and masking mandate.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in November mandated all Head Start staff and certain contractors and volunteers be fully vaccinated by the end of January 2022. The mandate also requires masks must be worn by children over the age of 2.

"This is just the latest and most egregious in a growing list of overreaches by this president," Kemp said, FOX 5 reported Dec. 21. "It is all the more troubling and inexcusable, given this mandate directly impacts and impairs our children."

Kemp has opposed masks mandates since the beginning of the pandemic, and more recently in May, the Republican governor banned school districts from requiring masks and also signed an executive order allowing businesses to avoid masks mandates though he encourages all Georgians to get vaccinated.

"As with our prior lawsuits against the administration's unwarranted and inappropriate decisions, we will not rest in this fight to protect the rights and choices of Georgia's families, especially when it comes to our youngest citizens," Kemp said. "We will not allow these policies to invade our classrooms, teaching the wrong lessons about the role of government to growing minds."

The lawsuit opposing masks in Head Start asserts the mandate: exceeds the statutory authority of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; is contrary to law; illegally bypassed notice and comment; is arbitrary and capricious; constitutes an exercise of legislative power in violation of the Nondelegation Doctrine; and violates the Congressional Review Act, the Tenth Amendment, the Anti-Commandeering doctrine, the Spending Clause, and the Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act of 1999.

"This administration is trying to force kids as young as two to wear a mask all day. It is outrageous — and we’re taking them to court to put a stop to it," Kemp wrote in a tweet on Tuesday evening.

The state has seen a surge in COVID-19 positive cases. In the last couple of weeks, the number of daily positive cases has jumped to more than 23,000, the Georgia Department of Health reported.