Still a crook any way you look
The Texas Supreme Court denied a request by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to block a gun ban by the State Fair of Texas, meaning the fair will go forward this weekend with the gun ban in place.
Paxton’s emergency motion for temporary relief of the ban was denied by the Texas Supreme Court Thursday evening, one day prior to the opening day of the State Fair of Texas.
According to the court, Justice Blacklock filed an opinion concurring in the denial of the motion and Chief Justice Hecht and Justice Young followed suit.
On Tuesday, Paxton’s previous request to halt the gun ban was denied after Dallas County District Court Judge Emily Tobolowsky’s ruling to allow the State Fair of Texas to proceed with its policy.
The State Fair of Texas released the following statement after the decision:
“Howdy! The State Fair of Texas applauds the Texas Supreme Court’s ruling to deny the AG’s motion for emergency relief, thus allowing the State Fair to open the 2024 Fair tomorrow with its security policy as planned. We thank the Texas Supreme Court, Fifteenth Court of Appeals, and the Dallas District Court for their quick rulings ahead of the Fair. We look forward to Opening Day and providing a safe environment for our millions of fairgoers, as well as our staff, vendors, and volunteers.”
Paxton Friday said he will continue to fight enforcement of the gun ban after the Supreme Court of Texas ruling.
“Texans have a right to lawfully carry and the City of Dallas has no authority to contract their rights away to a private entity,” Paxton said. “This case is not over. I will continue to fight this on the merits to uphold Texans’ ability to defend themselves, which is protected by State law.”
Paxton escalated the case to the state’s highest court after being previously denied by the Fifteenth Court of Appeals and the Dallas District Court before that.
“The City of Dallas and the State Fair of Texas cannot nullify state law by banning firearms,” Paxton wrote.
The State Fair of Texas opens on Friday, Sept. 27, and will run through Oct. 20.
This gun ban comes one year after a shooting at the State Fair’s food court where three people were injured.
See here for the previous update. The concurring opinion by Justice Blacklock is here, and I strongly suggest you read it, as it looks to me like Blacklock is calling Paxton out for bad lawyering. Here’s his opening paragraph:
Remarkably, the State’s presentation to this Court takes no position on whether the State Fair of Texas, a private entity, has the legal authority to exclude patrons carrying handguns from the Fair. This may surprise many observers, given that the ostensible purpose of this litigation is to determine whether Texas law entitles law-abiding Texans to carry handguns at the State Fair despite the Fair’s recently enacted policy to the contrary. That is a very important question. It is a question on which both law-abiding handgun owners and the operators of the State Fair deserve a clear answer. It is a question to which further litigation may provide a clearer answer. But it is not a question answered—or even addressed—by the State’s emergency filings in this Court. This Court cannot possibly order the State Fair to allow handguns to be carried at this year’s Fair when the party seeking that relief does not even argue that Texas law obligates the Fair to do so.
He goes on for four pages taking apart the fact that Paxton sued the city of Dallas and not the State Fair, why even if he were completely correct in his assertions about what the city of Dallas may or may not do it wouldn’t force the State Fair to do anything, and more. Blacklock asserts that maybe if this case had gone to trial and received a verdict there might be enough facts for SCOTx to review and make a judgment, but given where they are now they just have no action to take. The lesson here is that sometimes when you call for room service, you are told the kitchen is closed.
To be sure, the Lege could rewrite the law to prohibit private entities like the State Fair from banning guns. I think even if that were limited to situations like this, where the entity in question is using public property, it would generate a huge fight that the pro-gun side might actually lose. Doesn’t mean Paxton or one of the ore extravagant gun nuts in the Lege won’t try it. We’ll need to keep an eye on the bills that get filed. In the meantime, enjoy your (hopefully) gun-free day at the State Fair. The Trib, Reform Austin, and KERA have more.