The Republican political power of the state of Texas has deployed itself in the cause of protecting from legal sanction a hairdresser who repeatedly and willfully violated the law, in this case a Dallas County order that had required businesses such as hers to suspend operations as part of the social-distancing regime.
Salon owner Shelly Luther refused to comply and was given a seven-day sentence for her violations. Senator Ted Cruz called the sentence “nuts.” Governor Greg Abbott called the sentence “excessive,” and Attorney General Ken Paxton, denouncing the move as “outrageous,” demanded Luther’s immediate release — an extraordinary thing for a state’s chief law-enforcement officer to do in the case of an offender who is guilty, prima facie, on the charge, in this case contempt of court. Talk radio and cable news made the case a cause célèbre.
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