AG Paxton Calls on Texas Supreme Court to Halt Unlawful City of Austin and Travis County Shutdown Orders

AUSTIN, TX -- Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton will be asking for an emergency stay with the Supreme Court of Texas later today, urging the court to halt enforcement of Austin Mayor Steve Adler’s and Travis County Judge Andy Brown’s illegal local orders, which impose a four-day shutdown of dine-in food and beverage services from 10:30 p.m. to 6:00 a.m., December 31 through January 3.

“The city and county orders clearly violate the governor’s Executive Order No. 32. Local authorities have no authority to override it,” said Attorney General Paxton. “Releasing these orders in the dark of night right before a major holiday demonstrates Adler’s and Brown’s bad faith and blatant contempt for Texans and local businesses. And now, because of their games, we’re having to pull litigants and our highest court away from their New Year’s Day holiday celebrations just to deal with local officials’ arbitrary declarations.

“These illegal city and county declarations are needlessly oppressive, lawless, and cannot be allowed to stand. My team and I have full confidence that the Texas Supreme Court will stand with the rule of law. We cannot have local declarations conflicting with Gov. Abbott’s clear order. I will continue to fight for Texans, small businesses and for an open economy.”


A public copy of the appeal is forthcoming.