Texas Supreme Court blocks mask mandates in Dallas, Bexar counties

The Texas Supreme Court closed the mandate two days after a Dallas appeals court dealt a legal backlash to Governor Greg Abbott by upholding an order from Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins to require masks in schools and businesses.

The Texas-only Republican Supreme Court granted a temporary stay on Sunday at the request of Republican Governor Greg Abbott and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. However, the hearings on the matter will continue as planned in the lower courts.

Bexar County, where the county seat of San Antonio is, has a hearing on Monday and Dallas County on August 24th.

The Austin Appellate Body opinion found that the governor’s powers are granted under the Texas Disaster Act to deal with emergencies.

Jenkins had argued that the law did not give Abbott the power to suspend the power of mayors and district judges to declare and manage local disasters.

Jenkins won before a civil district court judge, Democrat Tonya Parker, and the Dallas Fifth Court of Appeals before losing in the state’s highest court. The fifth court consists mostly of Democrats. Jenkins is a Democrat too. But these victories were short-lived.

However, the orders specifically state that the hearings can still continue, suggesting the judges were divided, said David Coale, a Dallas attorney who blogs about the Texas Supreme Court and federal courts.

“It’s interesting. If you really just got it about the legal question,” Does the governor have authority? “That’s presented on this record. … but they didn’t,” Coale said. “That suggests to me that more than a judiciary would like to see the facts. “

The court could have upheld the governor’s ban on mask mandates without the hearings, he said.

“If you don’t want to know what the facts are, just crush everything,” Coale said. “They have done that before. You can say, ‘The governor has authority and that’s it. … There’s only one reason you have preliminary hearings to testify or make affidavits – it’s like a mini-trial. “

Following the ruling, Jenkins noted on Twitter that the Supreme Court decision will not affect the Dallas Civil Court hearing.

“We are not going to stop working with parents, doctors, schools, businesses and others to keep you safe and we intend to win this hearing,” he said.

Jenkins could not be reached on Sunday for further comment.

For his part, the governor said on Twitter that his executive order against the mask requirement does not prohibit anyone from wearing it and that “anyone who wants to wear a mask can do so, including in schools”.

Paxton praised the Supreme Court decision, calling it a victory for the “rule of law”.

“Local mask requirements are illegal under [the governor’s order]“He said on Twitter. “This judgment is intended to serve as a reminder to all ITSs and local officials that the governor’s order will stand.”

Abbott and Paxton could not be reached for further comments.

What’s next

The nearly identical lawsuits in the Bexar and Dallas counties are being brought before their respective district judges for injunctions, which both sides can testify with witnesses if they so choose.

There the losing party is likely to appeal. The Bexar County lawsuit will go to the 4th Court of Appeals, while the Dallas lawsuit will go to the 5th Court of Appeals.

From there, the case can be challenged again in the Texas Supreme Court, but next time the highest court will have more information on file to consider.

The Bexar County’s lawsuit will likely go to the judges first. The Supreme Court then has the option to rule the Bexar County case, if it is received, or wait for the Dallas County case to arrive. It can consolidate the cases or decide separately.

Request from doctors

Abbott’s 60-page filing to the Supreme Court contained sections of the state’s government code that he argues empowered him to make executive orders that have the same “force and effect of the law.”

Unlike Jenkins’ filing, Abbotts did not include letters of support from doctors or any other group.

Jenkins’ case received letters of support from the Texas Association of School Boards, the Dallas County Medical Society, Disability Rights Texas, and a doctor in Dallas pleading that local executives should be allowed to determine their own health and safety practices.

“It will be us on whom the grief, the heartache and, no doubt, the anger will focus. We will bear this burden for everyone, ”wrote doctor Mark A. Casanova. “All we ask is that the tried and tested intervention of universal masking in the hardest hit areas be implemented at the discretion of the guides with intimate knowledge and boots on site.”

Casanova, the immediate former president of the Dallas County Medical Society, wrote that at the time he wrote his letter, there were only 17 ICU beds available in Dallas County.

“I am ready to support my colleagues when we begin, probably in the next few weeks, to tell grieving families that we do not have the adequate level of care their loved ones need. As a direct result, your loved one will die. “

According to the letter from Beth Kassanoff-Piper, president of the Dallas County Medical Society, Dallas County’s residents hospitalized with COVID rose 97 percent in the past two weeks.

Joy Baskin, director of the legal department for the school board, wrote that school districts need flexibility to make localized decisions for their students and staff.

“A blanket ban on the use of masks in public school districts is an encroachment on local authorities and an obstacle to the school districts ability to take local responsibility for the safety of a largely unvaccinated school population,” wrote Baskin.

The addition of these letters shows that Jenkins’ legal team and his supporters are aware of his stance on the tough battle they have faced to convince the Republican-controlled court.

The Dallas County lawsuit began after Commissioner JJ Koch, a Republican, was removed from a Commissioners Court session for refusing to wear a mask in accordance with Jenkins’ mandate. Koch sued Jenkins, alleging the district judge violated Abbott’s ban on mask mandates.

Jenkins’s response to Koch’s lawsuit named Abbott as a counter-defendant and called on a judge to block the governor’s mask mandate ban in July.

The rate of COVID infections in Dallas County has risen sharply since the ban. Last week, hospitals in North Texas had no available pediatric intensive care beds, the Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council reported.

A judge issued an injunction and a hearing was scheduled for August 24th. Jenkins’ attorneys argued that Abbott had asked the Supreme Court to give an early decision “before a factual report can be made in the courts.”

Schools respond to judgment

Thirteen Dallas County’s school districts announced that they would comply with Jenkins’ masking mandate following the district judge’s order last week. Sunnyvale ISD had not yet announced whether masks would be required on campus.

Flip-flop guidelines can create confusion as DISD students will be returning to school in more than 100 locations on Monday.

According to the Supreme Court decision, Irving ISD was the first Dallas County school district to say it would follow the decision of the Texas Supreme Court until further guidance is provided. The district said masks were “very welcome”.

Grand Prairie and Richardson ISDs plan to provide an update on mask requirements on Monday.

Abbott’s ban on masking mandates sparked fire from US Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, who wrote to Abbott and Texas Education Agency commissioner Mike Morath on Friday that attempts to ban district officials from wearing masks “may violate the authority of a school district, To issue guidelines for protection ”. Students and Educators ”in developing federally mandated lesson plans.

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