Good.
Howdy, folks
A Texas court of appeals has denied the request by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to block a gun ban by the State Fair of Texas. The fair will go forward this weekend with the gun ban in place.
The request was denied by the 15th Court of Appeals in Dallas County on Tuesday afternoon. This came after Dallas County District Court Judge Emily Tobolowsky’s ruling Thursday allowing the State Fair of Texas to proceed with its policy.
“The State Fair of Texas applauds today’s unanimous ruling by the Fifteenth Court of Appeals,” the State Fair of Texas said in a statement. “The State Fair believes our new weapons policy is within the law and we look forward to welcoming fairgoers on Opening Day of the 2024 State Fair.”
In a post on X following the ruling, Paxton said he would be challenging the decision immediately in the Texas Supreme Court.
“The City of Dallas and the State Fair of Texas cannot nullify state law by banning firearms,” Paxton wrote.
See here and here for the previous updates. Some stories like this one from the Statesman suggest that this court’s ruling, its first of any interest, is “an early sign of the court’s independence”, despite its creation as a workaround to the now mostly Democratic appellate courts around the state. I’m not willing to go anywhere near that far on one no-comment order, but it is nice to see a Republican panel not give Ken Paxton room service treatment. Now we’ll see what the Supreme Court does, as he will surely appeal again. The Trib, Texas Public Radio, and NBCDFW have more.
What a clown this man Paxton is. Unbelievable that this is how he’s chosen to spend him and his office’s time and State resources. Saddens me the citizens of Texas are going to have to wait as they as they are before being able to vote for a replacement.
The citizens of TX chose this.
What good reason is there to take a gun to the State Fair? “Because I wanna” doesn’t count.
The news report mistakenly states that the 15th Court of Appeals is based in Dallas. In fact it is the new, appointed court to handle high level business disputes. All appointed members are stringent conservative jurists, and all Republicans recently appointed by Governor Abbott.