Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy has joined Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in a lawsuit in federal court against President Joe Biden and top Pentagon officials to stop a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for National Guard members. The lawsuit is an amended version of the suit Texas filed at the start of January over the Pentagon’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in late August 2021 issued a directive that required all military service members, including the Guard to take the COVID-19 vaccine. Austin later directed the Pentagon in November to withhold federal pay or benefits, which includes monthly drill weekends, from unvaccinated Guard members. The lawsuit contends that the federal government goes not have authority over the national guardsmen when they are serving the state. “There has long been a clear and distinct line between when National Guardsmen are governed by state authority and when they are governed by federal authority. …