Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sues Austin and Travis County over the weekend restaurant curfew.
Austin Mayor Steve Adler and Travis County Judge Andy Brown want them closed from 10:30 at night until six in the morning through Sunday morning. The goal is to keep COVID cases in check.
Ken Paxton’s spokesman Alejandro Garcia calls it overreach and anti business. “Texas is a law and order state, and these are lives and livlyhoods that are at stake. We will continue to defend them against the mayor and county judge.”
Paxton’s suit says the local order are in direct conflict with Governor Abbott’s superseding state orders. Critics of the move call it pure politics.
Austin’s Mayor Steve Adler counters, his and County judge’s orders are in no way a political decision. but one based on data and recommendations not only from the Austin Travis County Health Authority, but also area hospital systems and doctors.
He adds, the city and county have tried to write up the order very specifically to not break the Governor’s executive order banning another shutdown. He says the Austin Travis County order is written in a consistent way to similar curfer orders in El Paso and San Antonio, which Adler notes have gone un-objected by state leaders.
