"The Law Is A Ass"

El Paso’s temporary shutdown of nonessential businesses will continue for at least three more weeks. https://t.co/y1vMJ7uapB

— Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) November 12, 2020

Or maybe this is more appropriate: 

The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread.

El Paso is in the shit:

El Paso’s temporary shutdown of nonessential businesses will continue for at least three more weeks under a new executive order issued by County Judge Ricardo Samaniego. The move extends a previous order Samaniego issued on Oct. 29 in an effort to curb the spread of COVID-19 in this border city, where local hospital beds are scarce because of a surge of coronavirus patients.

The county has struggled to contain new infections, which have exceeded 1,000 daily several times during the last two weeks. The outbreak was responsible for another 14 deaths reported Wednesday, and active cases in this border area are now at more than 29,000. Nearly 1,100 patients are hospitalized, including 279 in intensive care, according to the latest government statistics. 

But fuck all that, Ken Paxton has a legal precedent to establish:  Thou Shalt Not Fuck With Business In Texas!

Samaniego’s extension of the shutdown order until Dec. 1 comes despite the Texas Attorney General’s office’s ongoing efforts to have the county order squashed in court. Attorney General Ken Paxton and local restaurants argued the order exceeded the restrictions permitted under Gov. Greg Abbott’s own order, which outlines what limits can be placed on private businesses.

A state district judge last week permitted the El Paso shutdown order to stand pending a final resolution of the case. The Texas Supreme Court on Wednesday also declined to halt the order and instead said a resolution from the state's 8th Court of Appeals is expected later this week. 

Paxton cares about who's in control; the El Paso county judge cares about the people of the county:

Samaniego said during a virtual press conference on Wednesday that the extended shutdown was "a short-term effort to make sure we don’t have a long-term impact on our community."

"Right now all I am asking is [to hit] the reset button, let's do the right thing ... let's do two to three weeks of really trying to do the best, and we won't be here in January or February," he said. 

How bad is it?

The number of total cases recorded in El Paso County since the pandemic began is more than 65,000, about 8,000 greater than Bexar County, which includes San Antonio and has more than twice the population. The emergency has led hospitals in El Paso to ask for patient volunteers willing to be airlifted to other cities in order to free up bed space in local facilities; the local convention center has been converted into a makeshift field hospital and at least six refrigeration trailers have been used or are on standby to help store the remains of COVID-19 patients.

But fuck all that, there's a legal precedent to be set!

The writers of the Texas Constitution, written to control banks and railroads (the hated "corporate" powers of the late 19th century), are spinning in their graves. But "The business of American business is business."  And so here we are; again.