Sometime soon, these local officials need to start getting SUED

"Learn to do good;
Seek justice,
Rebuke the oppressor;
Defend the fatherless,
Plead for the widow."
Isaiah 1:17

Yesterday, Tony McDonald had a piece about the constitutional authority for local officials to issue the hostage in place edicts we've seen across Texas.  While we recommend reading the piece in full, the TL,DR version is that such authority is non-existent.  Unfortunately, McDonald also points out that courts have a long history of siding with government during times of alleged 'crisis.'

While it may make long-term sense to file such a suit to make the constitutional point...odds of it begetting short term relief are likely low.

There is, however, another alternative.

It's not a secret that these hostage in place orders are causing massive economic damage.  Perhaps it's appropriate to make the relevant local entities pay for the damage they've caused.  Thus, you'd be going after them for the practical damage they've caused, rather than some abstract constitutional point.

It gets better.  Because, odds are, such a suit wouldn't even have to be successful in court (though you would need to be prepared to argue it).  Just the threat of such a lawsuit would likely spur these local entities to change their behavior.

The biggest question is when.  We're still, obviously, in the process of having information about both the virus and the economic impact come in.  By some point between Thursday of next week and Tuesday of the week after (Apr. 16-21).

Bottom Line: We're not there yet, but the time is rapidly approaching.