Moody Takes Legal Action Against Head Start Mandate

Last week, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody (R) announced that she would “aggressively push back” against the Head Start vaccine mandate. This week, the Florida Republican announced that she had signed a multi-state challenge against the Head Start mandate, which calls for teachers, volunteers, and contractors in the federal program to be vaccinated starting on January 31^st, 2022. Moody has echoed Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) charge against vaccine mandates, which has resulted in backlash from Florida Democrats.

In an announcement, Moody’s office shared the numerous states that are joining her effort, saying that “joining Attorney General Moody in taking legal action to stop the unlawful mandates are attorneys general from Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming.”

As mentioned last week, Moody argued that motherhood was the main reason why she had launched the effort against the mandate. In the  65-page complaint, she calls the mandate "arbitrary and capricious."

Commenting on the issue, Moody expressed that "as a mother, I am very concerned about the latest federal mandates being forced on Head Start staff and students — children as young as two-years old will be required to wear masks and teachers will be forced to receive a vaccination against their will." "I am fighting to stop this federal overreach, just as I have fought to protect Floridians against the previous unlawful mandates forced on us by the federal government," she added.

Moreover, Moody said that the mandate "intrudes into fundamental decisions about whether a toddler must wear a mask at school" and that "it also imposes obligations on parents picking children up from school."

For Moody, the mandate "goes straight to the heart of the allocation of power between State and family."