The Texas Supreme Court temporarily blocked the local mask mission on the side of Governor Greg Abbott after last week’s ruling confirmed the masked missions in Dallas and San Antonio.
Sunday’s decision will come after Abbott’s strengthened legislation in July that prohibited state government agencies, including school districts, from issuing mask requirements. However, some school districts have pulled out as coronavirus cases have increased in Lone star amid the delta variant.
Texas Supreme Court With Gov. Abbott Temporarily Upholds Mask Ban
Officials in the counties of Dallas and Bexar, where San Antonio is based, issued a temporary restraining order against the governor’s ban, citing the county’s ability to establish a secure order. Harris County, the hometown of Houston, has temporarily allowed state district judges to implement security measures, such as requiring masks.
The state’s largest independent school district in Dallas challenged the governor’s order on August 9, requiring all students and school staff to wear masks, regardless of their immune status. Dallas School Superintendent Michael Hinojosa told local broadcaster CBSDFW.
This decision is pending the final ruling of the State Supreme Court and is provisional until then. Auditions for the San Antonio and Dallas school districts will go as planned.
Abbott reminded the public in a tweet that “the ban does not prohibit the use of masks.”
“Everyone who needs to use a mask, including going to school, can do it,” he said. On Tuesday, two distinguished state district judges gave the Dallas and Bexar County municipalities temporary power to issue orders to wear the mask. Leaders in both counties requested that the court’s sanctions as cases and hospitalizations for COVID 19 increased across the state. Attorneys in both jurisdictions presented the matter at a simultaneous hearing on Tuesday afternoon. In San Antonio, Judge Antonia Arteaga has given the local government a temporary injunction to prevent Abbott’s actions.
A few hours later, Judge Tonya Parker did the same in Dallas. “The pandemic has proven the necessity of learning, but with the highly infectious delta variant currently prevalent in San Antonio, the school has all the tools at its disposal to keep it open. These tools include a universal mask.”
“In anticipation of an emergency order, we will receive comments from health, education, and business people from tonight to tomorrow morning,” Judge Clay Jenkins of Dallas County said on Twitter. The move comes shortly after San Antonio and Bexar County sued Abbott by presidential order Tuesday morning, preventing local officials and school districts from enforcing the mask-wearing order.
City and county officials said during the proceedings that Abbott’s order would refrain the city and county employees also visitors from wearing masks. In a statement issued before the decision, the city of San Antonio, when given a temporary order, “immediately issued an order requesting the wearing of masks at public schools, and unimmunized students received COVID 19 Strict contact with individuals who are positive”.
At a hearing in Bexar County on Tuesday, city lawyer William Christian was unable to impose orders on Abbott to cover the face of the city and county under the Texas Disaster Act of 1975.
