Abbott's Continuing, Contorted, Game of Illegal, Unilateral, Whack-A-Mole

"He who covers his sins will not prosper,
But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy."
Proverbs 28:13

Soo...this happened:

BREAKING: @GovAbbott modifies executive order to eliminate jail time as punishment in response to calls to free Shelley Luther #txlege pic.twitter.com/yuBJrQam7q

— Brandon Waltens (@bwaltens) May 7, 2020

First things first, notice the use of the words "if," "may," and "should."  That tells you what you need to know about the enforceability of this so-called "order."  Abbott's basically channeling his inner Hans Blix.

 Nevertheless, between Abbott's posturing and SCOTX's (actual, legally enforceable) order, Shelley Luther is probably gonna be fine.  Likewise, the two ladies in South Texas.  From a practical perspective, the final outcome was reasonably unterrible.

But let's not pretend the core issue has been solved.  The process that led to this place remains in place.  There's every reason to expect future abuses.

To recall that process:

• Greg Abbott put lobbyists and campaign contributors in charge of the state's "re-opening."
  
  
• Note: It's not going to be out for awhile, but Abbott's July 15 campaign finance report is going to be very interesting.

• Following the advice of those afore mentioned lobbyists and campaign contributors "the experts," Greg Abbott issued an arbitrary, vague, order.

• Local officials take Abbott's order to its logical end point.

• Fox News notices.

• Abbott starts getting bad press on Fox News.

• Abbott issues arbitrary, vague, modifications to his previous arbitrary, vague, order.

Rinse, lather, repeat

The problem, fundamentally, is that the government is acting illegally.  Neither the Governor, nor these local officials, have the legal authority to behave as they have been.  At both the state and local levels, government needs to get back to solid legal footing.

Nothing in Abbott's "modification" from this morning gets government back to solid legal footing.  Even if it leads to a better practical outcome (this time), it's still lawless.  Hair of the dog, etc.

Expect more abuses...

...even if Shelley Luther's one specific case turns out ok.

Bottom Line:  Shelley Luther ain't gonna be the last of these stories....