Shelly Luther, a business-owner from Dallas, was recently sentenced to seven days in jail for opening her salon — and refusing to apologize to the court — in defiance of Governor Greg Abbott’s executive shutdown order.

At sentencing, Judge Eric Moyé accused Luther of being “selfish” even though the White House guidelines were followed at her workplace. Ms. Luther is quoted saying, “You have rights to feed your children and make income. And anyone that wants to take away those rights is wrong.” Those words ring true.

In fairness to Gov. Abbott, he apparently didn’t realize the manner in which violation of his executive orders would be enforced and punished. The governor immediately called for Luther’s release and made statements condemning the judge for jailing Luther:

“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.”

There are also less restrictive means to protect Texans from the virus than business shutdown orders.

Gov. Abbott’s attorney general, Ken Paxton, was equally outraged. He sent a letter to the judge and reproved him for his “shameful abuse of judicial discretion.”

..

The right to bear arms is a constitutional right and arguably an unalienable right.

The right to work to earn a livelihood is without question an unalienable right.  The government cannot take away that right.   . . .

A silver lining may be that the COVID-19 pandemic has provided us the opportunity to consider the lawful reach of executive orders.  It is one thing to impose reasonable conditions of employment (masking, sanitizing, etc.) in perilous circumstances.  It is quite another to announce complete shutdown decrees from on high.

— American Thinker.com | May 9, 2020 | Monte Kuligowski