Texas Attorney General Admits He Can’t Enforce Greg Abbott’s Mask Mandate Ban

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton admitted that helium doesn’t person the authorization to enforce Gov. Greg Abbott’s disguise mandate ban.

Greg Abbott Mask Mandate Ban Is Unenforceable

Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee said successful a connection provided to PoliticusUSA:

The Attorney General is telling 1 communicative to the nationalist and different to the courts, creating disorder for the schoolhouse districts, superintendents, and section officials who are trying to support students and residents harmless arsenic the Delta variant worsens. Texans merit the truth. If the Governor and the Attorney General cannot enforce the Governor’s disguise mandate ban, the folks making pugnacious decisions for our schools and communities person the close to cognize that. They shouldn’t person to fearfulness retribution for doing the close thing—especially erstwhile our authorities leaders softly concede that their threats are thing but bluster.”

In GA-38, the Governor banned schoolhouse districts and section officials from mandating masks and stated section officials who contented specified information measures would beryllium taxable to a “fine up to $1,000.” In effect to caller disguise mandates imposed by section officials, Attorney General Ken Paxton has stated publicly—and repeatedly—that his bureau volition enforce Governor Abbott’s disguise mandate ban. He and Governor Abbott joined unneurotic successful stating that “any schoolhouse district, nationalist university, oregon section authorities authoritative that decides to defy [the Governor’s disguise mandate ban] volition beryllium taken to court.”[1] His bureau has compiled a database of “government entities unlawfully imposing disguise mandates” designed to intimidate those entities into compliance.[2] He has sent letters to galore connected that list, threatening them with enforcement.[3]  He has tweeted respective times helium intends to writer these entities, astir precocious saying, “I volition support TX Law & writer each entity that violates it. We volition win!”[4]

Despite these nationalist statements, the Attorney General admitted to the courts proceeding the lawsuits brought by section officials and schoolhouse districts that his bureau does not and cannot enforce GA-38, nor tin helium question the $1,000 good provided successful the order. His bureau has stated plainly that “[n]either Governor Abbott nor Attorney General Paxton volition beryllium enforcing GA-38.”[5] Instead, the Attorney General acknowledges that lone section territory attorneys tin enforce GA-38—he has claimed that entities similar Harris County, different counties/cities, and definite autarkic schoolhouse districts cannot writer the Governor and the Attorney General due to the fact that they person “alleged nary credible menace of prosecution by section territory attorneys, who would beryllium the ones enforcing GA-38.”[6]

Texas Republicans can’t halt schools and businesses from imposing disguise mandates.

Republican enactment successful Texas is lying to the nationalist astir their quality to enforce the prohibition connected disguise mandates to scare and intimidate schools into not imposing them.

The lies are particularly deplorable due to the fact that they volition origin children and adults successful the authorities to get sick and perchance die.

The bare governmental posturing of the Abbott medication volition get much Texans killed, and Republicans request to beryllium held liable for loved ones who volition needlessly dice owed to Gov. Abbott’s disguise mandate prohibition misinformation.