Meanwhile, On The Third Coast

Liberty! https://t.co/5csOxLNRnU

— Charles P. Pierce (@CharlesPPierce) August 17, 2021

A chaotic and confusing patchwork of mask mandates has cropped up across Texas as state officials and local governments argue in court and COVID-19 pummels the state. https://t.co/EXwqLowDQI

— Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) August 17, 2021

First off, there's a question as to what the Supreme Court (Texas) actually did about mandates and masks:

For Texans living in urban areas, another source of confusion over mask-wearing are the pingpong legal battles between Abbott and local officials. In some cases, a local mask mandate has been overturned by one court, only to be reinstated within hours by another.

For example, the Texas Supreme Court temporarily nixed mask mandates in Bexar and Dallas counties Sunday evening. Less than a day later, a lower court judge essentially reinstated the Bexar mandate for public schools — though not without acknowledging the confusion.

“I just wanted to apologize to all those parents, school administrators, the superheroes that we call teachers for what someone called the equivalent to a legal tug of war, unfortunately where our children are right in the middle,” District Judge Antonia Arteaga said in making her ruling Monday afternoon.

I suspect we are back to "Yes, the Governor has the power, but it's not an absolute power."  Meaning the Supremes only heard the issue of the Governor's authority, not the issue of whether that authority was being exercised "reasonably."  I'm guessing the District Judge took evidence and ruled on that issue.  Which doesn't clear up the confusion; and that's the problem the Texas Supreme Court walked right into:  a roomful of rakes, in other words, enough for every Justice on the Court to step on one.

After the Supreme Court ruling, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins insisted in a tweet that justices “did not strike down my face mask order.”

But the court made Jenkins’ order unenforceable by removing his ability to fine businesses that don’t comply, said Doug Alexander, a lawyer representing Jenkins. 

Abbott has claimed the authority to fine government officials who don't comply with his dictates.  I don't think the Court has considered that issue yet, which just adds to the confusion.

“What’s ‘cray cray’ about it is that everybody’s telling [Jenkins] he needs mask mandates to save lives in Dallas County,” Alexander said. “For reasons that I can’t fathom, the governor and the attorney general are hell-bent on tying the arms of all governmental entities from doing exactly what the physicians on the front lines are telling them they must do to stop the surging pandemic.”

That's what the courts call the question of "reasonable." No telling how long it's going to take for them to get around to addressing that.

And it turns out playing diktator isn't as simple as it appears to be:

Some districts aren’t waiting for the state to challenge local mask orders to reverse course. In Travis County, Eanes Independent School District pulled back its mask mandate after the state Supreme Court decision — even though the decision didn’t apply to Travis County and the county mask mandate remains in effect.

“We will follow the law as it is determined by the highest court at the time in this legal chess match,” the school district posted on Twitter.

Others have stuck with their mandates through the chaos. Dallas, Austin and San Antonio ISDs will continue to require masks despite the Supreme Court order.

In parts of the state where masking orders remain untouched by the legal crossfire, officials are weighing the possibility of expanding the mandate beyond schools and colleges.

Which brings us back to the question of reasonableness:

“I think there’s huge confusion when the science and the doctors all say that we need to do everything we can to get people to mask and to get vaccinated — and our governor won’t make it happen and will stop local communities from doing what they can to make it happen,” Adler said. 

Abbott loses that argument.  Sooner or later, some court is going to take it up.