Houston Chronicle by Jasper Scherer March 30, 2020
Hotze, pastors ask Texas Supreme Court to rule Harris County stay-at-home order unconstitutional
A hardline conservative power broker and three Harris County pastors filed a petition with the Texas Supreme Court Monday arguing that Judge Lina Hidalgo’s stay-at-home order violates the Constitution by ordering the closure of churches and failing to define gun shops as an “essential†business.
The emergency petition for a writ of mandamus, filed by anti-LGBTQ Republican activist Steven Hotze and pastors Juan Bustamante, George Garcia and David Valdez, contends that Hidalgo’s order undercuts the First Amendment by limiting religious and worship services to video or teleconference calls. Pastors also may minister to congregants individually.
Hotze and the pastors further argue that the order “severely infringes†on Second Amendment rights by closing gun stores. The order does not define gun shops as an essential business, though Attorney General Ken Paxton issued an opinion Friday that stay-at-home orders cannot force gun stores to close or otherwise restrict sales or transfers.
More:
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Texas-Supreme-Court-Harris-County-stay-at-home-15166758.php
