Texas GOP’s in-person convention can’t proceed, federal appeals court says

[Elderberry]

Houston Chronicle  by Gwendolyn Wu July 18, 2020

An order issued Saturday by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overruled a federal judge’s ruling that the Texas Republican Party could hold an in-person convention at the George R. Brown Convention Center, after Mayor Sylvester Turner vowed to appeal the case.

On Friday, Judge Lynn Hughes of the Southern District of Texas said the city of Houston had infringed on the party’s constitutional rights by canceling the in-person convention.

Hughes ruled that Turner and the Houston First Corp., the city’s convention management agency, must allow the Texas GOP the option of hosting the convention at the center. The convention was scheduled to run Thursday through Saturday.

More: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Texas-GOP-s-in-person-convention-can-t-15417612.php

[Elderberry]

Texas GOP convention chaos prompts delegates to create a second gathering for unfinished business

Texas Tribune by Patrick Svitek and Cassandra Pollock July 20, 2020

https://www.texastribune.org/2020/07/20/texas-gop-convention-delay-vote-chair-james-dickey-allen-west/

The original convention still kept going overnight, though, as delegates met to vote on key leadership positions — including the state party chairmanship.

The Texas GOP convention has become so beset with chaos and dysfunction that delegates voted late Sunday night to hold a second convention to finish business that still hadn't been taken up, though key votes for state party chair and other party leadership positions were still taking place overnight during the original convention that rolled into Monday morning.

But even the timeline for those elections looked uncertain as the clock struck 1 a.m.

The party also experienced a purported cyber attack late Sunday night as it took suggestions for who should sit on a 10-member committee to advise Chairman James Dickey on the time, place and other details of the second convention.

The party received over 5,000 names, and in remarks shortly after 11 p.m., Dickey said he would need time to “de-duplicate” the deluge of suggestions. That is also when Dickey announced the party was experiencing a “denial of service attack” — an intentional cyber attack — “on our systems.”

“Now fortunately we’re using robust technology that is standing up to that attack, but there is no such service that is impervious to such and even when well architected, it can have a serious impact,” Dickey said. “So, we are, uh, we are dealing with all of that."

More at link.