El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego

Good news to be thankful for! Yesterday, the Eighth District Appellate Court in El Paso granted a temporary order halting enforcement of El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego's COVID lockdown edicts, which he had extended through December 1. Recall that this is the case filed by El Paso businesses that want to stay open reported on yesterday that the Texas Supreme Court, by a 5-4 margin had declined to expedite, opting to wait for the Eighth District to get the job done. The order to stop enforcement of the edict is temporary until a full trial on the merits can be conducted. Ken Paxton's AG office has intervened on behalf of the State of Texas on behalf of the businesses, so the case name is State of Texas v El Paso County. The case number is 08-20-00226-CV. The businesses who filed the suit are PIZZA PROPERTIES, INC., WING DADDY'S, TORO BURGER BAR, CHARCOALER, LLC, TRIPLE A RESTAURANTS, INC. ,CC RESTAURANT LP, FD MONTANA, LLC, WT CHOPHOUSE, LLC, VERLANDER ENTERPRISES, LLC, and BAKERY VENTURES I, LTD. The businesses are being represented by Kemp Smith LLP with lead attorney Mark Osborn and assisted by Shelly Rivas and Deborah Trejo. Harry County Judge Lina Hidalgo, Travis County, the City of Austin, and Fort Bend County Judge KP George filed amicus briefs on behalf of the El Paso County Judge. The Eighth District order was issued by a three judge panel led by Chief Justice Jeff Alley. He was joined in his order by Justice Gina Palafox. Justice Yvonne Rodriguez dissented. http://www.search.txcourts.gov/SearchMedia.aspx?MediaVersionID=a7a5a417-ea47-4760-bf18-584faafa64b1&coa=coa08&DT=Order&MediaID=2cfed97f-c013-4e5f-ba8f-45a365de19fb