Shelley Luther owns a Dallas Salon and had to open her shop to feed her family. Likewise, her employees need to feed their families. She opened minutes after Governor Abbott okayed the opening of salons. All her employees had masks and were stationed 6 feet apart. She also had sanitizer stations available.
She was ordered by Judge Moye to apologize to him and remain closed. Ms. Luther refused and he imprisoned her for a week, while saddling her with oppressive fines. She was immediately taken into custody.
The Texas attorney general sent a letter urging the Dallas judge to free Ms. Luther. He said she was “unjustly jailed.” He also called it a “misguided abuse of power.”
Well, the judge’s little ego was offended, after all.
Shelley Luther should immediately be released from jail. Locking her up is a misguided abuse of power, especially considering Dallas County released real criminals to “protect them from COVID-19.”
Release her now so she can return to her family. pic.twitter.com/67KrhQBEyf
— Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) May 6, 2020
As a mother, Ms. Luther wanted to feed her children,” Paxton said in his letter. “As a small business owner, she wanted to help her employees feed their children. Needless to say, these are laudable goals that warrant the exercise of enforcement discretion.”
Luther was given three choices by the judge: She could offer an apology for selfishness, pay a fine and shutdown until Friday, or serve jail time.
He apparently didn’t like her polite response. “I have to disagree with you, sir, when you say that I’m selfish because feeding my kids is not selfish,” she told the judge. “I have hairstylists that are going hungry because they would rather feed their kids. So sir, if you think the law is more important than kids getting fed, then please go ahead with your decision. But I am not going to shut the salon.”
Governor Abbott agrees:
“I join the Attorney General in disagreeing with the excessive action by the Dallas Judge, putting Shelley Luther in jail for seven days,” Abbott said. “As I have made clear through prior pronouncements, jailing Texans for non-compliance with executive orders should always be the last available option. Compliance with executive orders during this pandemic is important to ensure public safety; however, surely there are less restrictive means to achieving that goal than jailing a Texas mother.”
Texas Senator Curz also commented:
7 days in jail for cutting hair?? This is NUTS. And government officials don’t get to order citizens to apologize to them for daring to earn a living. https://t.co/3rulRlN0gE
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) May 6, 2020
Misguided abuse of power? Try “Criminal abuse of power.”
Give me Liberty or I will bring you Death.
So sad. When I joined the service I had to raise my right hand to promise that I would obey all lawful orders and that I would defend the constitution of the united states against …. (and here it gets dicey) foreign and domestic… threats. Well folks, we got a lot of domestic threats against the constitution. You know that living document that doesn’t really mean what it says… yaaaa that old piece of parchment… So we now have law enforcement flagrantly disregarding the constitution for a paycheck… dumb… cuz when that old scrap of paper no longer is relevent.. guess what???? yup your now screwed toooo.
Barry: This is exactly why we are where we are today. Different strokes for different folks. The lady is supposed to be blind when she deals out Justice… but she is not.
Government officials rarely punish each other. That’s one of their unspoken rules – kinda like cops very rarely give another cop a speeding ticket. They’re above the law. Only common citizens get punished.
Mr. Ripley,
You are 101% spot on ! Two sets of laws….one for der untermenschen and one for TPTB.
Since this is in Dallas, a hotbed of leftists as I understand, it’s not politically prudent to take too drastic of actions, although warranted. I could imagine near riots if he was pulled off the bench.
They would have to arrest all the rioters for congregating.
The judge would let them all back out. The AG said earlier that a crime of 750 would not face justice, so it tells the state in which Dallas is in. The sheriff was pretty animated on how serious he took the matter.
The police acted as shamefully as this tyrannical judge. Without the jackboots to enforce this unconstitutional nonsense the judge would have been a non-starter. “I’m just following orders” simply isn’t acceptable.
her apologize to the judge?? for what?? maybe she called him what he really is!! trying to feed her kids?? like he is the all mighty that sits there and receives his pay whether he hits a lick at a snake or not!! that is some sorry crap!!! sorry no morals SOB!!
If he feels so strongly why hasn’t the Texas AG put Judge Moye in jail and fined him exorbitantly.
Sounds nice. But if you bothered to check the State Attorney General’s powers and authority in the Texas Constitution, you’d find he has no authority to do jail anyone, much less a judge, and he has no power to fine anyone.
Whatever provision the Texas Constitution has for permanently removing this judge from any office should be acted upon immediately. No more words from the AG, Gov or US Senator. TAKE ACTION!
Lev,
Don’t hold your breath thinking Abbott and/or Paxton will hold Dallas’ black-robed tyrant responsible for his criminal actions.
Though you are correct….actions speak louder than words !
Nah, eventually this fkn judge will pizz off the wrong cedar choppers and be found beaten half to death in a muddy ditch outside of Denton.
ONE of the WORSE REALITIES in this RIDICULOUS AFFAIR, is that that “judge” doesn’t have a CLUE what the 1st AMENDMENT STATES about CITIZENS RIGHTS!!!
Hey judgey boy! How’s THIS set with you’re SO CALLED AUTHORITY??:
“…make…NO LAW…ABRIDGING the…RIGHT of the PEOPLE to petition the Govt. for a REDRESS OF GRIEVANCES…”!! — THE FIRST AMENDMENT”!!!
buddy boy!!, YOU OWE Ms Luther AN APOLOGY…POST HASTE!!!
AND! God BLESS Ted PATRICK & Governor Abbot!!!!
It CERTAINLY APPEARS that DEM Judges do NOT like the CONSTITUTIONAL RULES concerning the RIGHTS of the CITIZENRY!!!
BUSTER BROWN!! YOU’D BEST RETHINK YOUR authority dealing with “RIGHTS”!!!
AG Paxton can whine all he wants regarding his fellow lawyer and judge abusing his power of the corrupt justus system. Governor Abbott and his pal Ted Cruz can join Paxton as the Three Stooges in chastising the black-robed tyrant, the Dallas judge who abused MS Luther. However, not one of the Three Stooges will attempt to correct the injustice dispensed by the despicable Dallas judge against an innocent Citizen. Not one of the Three Stooges will strive to inflict pain, financial or physical, upon the Dallas tyrant in a black robe.
Actions speak louder than words.
ERWACHE
Your ridicule of people who have spoken out is entirely misguided. You have no idea if Paxton will act legally. He is giving the judge a chance to stop humiliating himself.
The problem in justice in the USA today is the corrupt coward Barr, who you failed to mention.
Way to pivot, but the judge deserves no chance at reconcilliation as he was “warned” by the media, as the statists put it, prior to this tyrannical judgement.
Hence, faith without works… Put your money where your mouth is Governor, Senator; or put your junk back in your pants instead of uselessly wagging it around.
Prisoner,
Barr ? He has more pertinent eggs to fry than some district magistrate in Texas. That responsibility is the state governor and his AG to address.
As I wrote, Paxton and Abbott are blowhards as is Cruz….the Three Stooges. Blowing out remarks on Twitter is “speaking out”. Now, should the governor with his attorney general by his side, call a press conference to announce removal of the Dallas judge….that is speaking out ! Otherwise those two political hacks remain little more than blowhards.
I hope I am wrong, but I doubt it. The Dallas judge will suffer no pain, financial or physical, by actions initiated by Abbott and/or Paxton.
“Lawyers”…..remember what Shakespeare wrote centuries ago regarding them.. His literary declaration was pertinent then and even moreso today.
ERWACHE
To start with, locking down those who are not infected, is a crime.
Paxton and the Gov aren’t done with this. I would be very surprised if this stands with the two of them now chiming in. I saw this on the news here in Houston when she said she was going to open, and figured it would come to this. I applaud her – she has some granite stones!
@ Dan III: Neither the AG nor Sen. Cruz have any power to act against this judge. And it appears the governor has no pardon power either, since this is not a criminal conviction. Abbott, Paxton, and Cruz are doing the only thing they can, which is to try to get public sentiment against this judge for this absurd decision.
Shelley Luther’s only recourse at this point seems to be appeals, for what that’s worth, which is nothing. It appears from the Texas Constitution that only the judges of the District Court can remove a county judge for cause, “upon the cause therefor being set forth in writing and the finding of its truth by a jury.”
Unless you can get the citizens of Dallas County riled up enough to get charges brought against the judge, it ain’t gonna happen. And as Greg noted below, that County is a hotbed of leftists. So don’t expect much.
The only reason to attack Abbot, Paxton, and Cruz is if you have an alternative agenda.
There is one hope. If there are many business owned by leftists and they are suffering in the same manner maybe, just maybe, they would consider their alternatives. It might be a long shot. There are also the workers in that city. Will they reconsider their support in the future. Lack of income can have consequences for those in power. The longer it lasts maybe the worse the consequence. But who knows.
Real justice is being served through Texas AG and Senator Cruz.
Not yet.
This morning, Shelly’s GoFundMe page was up over $180K. Bet it’s more now.
Oooohhhh, I’m sure “Judge Moye” is shaking in his dress with all those juicy details…
Notice how nobody even bothered to NAME the judge?
“Honorable” Eric Vaughn Moyé of the 14th Civil District Court on Commerce St. in Dallas, TX deserves more than a simple reversal of judgement as his judgement is clearly unreliable.
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