Texas governor and AG urge hair-salon owner be freed from jail

Shelley Luther (video screenshot)

With the backing of the Republican governor, the Texas attorney general is urging a Dallas judge to free a salon owner he jailed Tuesday after she refused to apologize for keeping her business open in violation of the governor's coronavirus order.

The office of Attorney General Ken Paxton told Dallas County State District Judge Eric Moyé in a letter that he abused his discretion when he "unjustly jailed" Shelly Luther for seven days, Fox News reported.

In a tweet, Paxton said 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,'" he wrote.

"Release her now so she can return to her family."

In his letter, Paxton said that 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," the attorney general said.

The judge gave Luther three choices: to apologize for selfishness, pay a fine and shutdown until Friday, or serve jail time.

Do you agree with the hair-salon owner who wants to stay open for business?

"I have to disagree with you, sir, when you say that I'm selfish because feeding my kids is not selfish," Luther 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."

Republican Gov. Greg Abbott said he joins the attorney general "in disagreeing with the excessive action" by the Dallas judge.

"As I have made clear through prior pronouncements, jailing Texans for non-compliance with executive orders should always be the last available option," he said. "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."

Abbott's new executive orders have given Texas salons, barbershops and spas the green light to reopen.

Shelley Luther rips up a cease-and-desist order from Dallas County, Texas, as she keeps her hair salon open amid the coronavirus pandemic. (Video screenshot)

'Tinderbox'

On his show Wednesday, talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh spotlighted the story as an example of "authoritarians" demanding more control of others' lives in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

He warned that such actions are creating a "tinderbox."

See Luther's response in court:

A GoFundMe campaign has been launched on Luther's behalf, with some $290,000 already donated.

That site says she "decided to resist tyranny by opening her business against an unlawful state executive order. Her business, SALON A LA MODE offers services for hair and nails, microblading, permanent makeup, professional event makeup, braiding and more!"

Limbaugh said she was doing what a good American should do in times of crisis: solve a problem.

He summarized the plight of small-business owners like Luther across the country.

"They don’t have any money. They need to get back to work. They didn’t demand that some government fix the problem," he said. "They didn’t demand a handout. They didn’t demand some paycheck protection plan or some other form of assistance. They went out and solved the problem as they have been taught, as they lived, as they were raised."

Limbaugh warned "this is a tinderbox situation that is, I fear, being replicated in many parts of this country where these authoritarians are."

"You know, all politicians have a craving for power. It is a miracle the United States Constitution still rules the roost," he said.

But that may not always be.

"It is amazing that after 200-plus years, everybody we’ve elected has decided to subordinate themselves and their power, their desires to it. I fear that’s coming to a change. I think some of these blue state governors and so forth are so infatuated with this new power that have had found that the natural authoritative tendencies that people in politics have," he said.

"That you’re incompetent. You can’t live without them. You can’t do the right thing unless they do it for you. You can’t spend your money wisely ’cause you’re not smart enough like they are. They have to do everything for you. Like this woman. 'What do you mean, going back to work? You have violated the law!'"

Limbaugh argued it's "the government’s burden to prove your job can’t be operated safely."

"And then shut you down, but you don’t have to prove anything. You don’t have to prove that your job’s essential. You don’t have to prove this or prove that. Your constitutional rights make this very clear, and they’re being trampled in a whole lot of places."

Luther said she had to act.

"I don’t want to cause any problems, but when you’re out of money someone has to stand up and say that they’re not helping us by not letting us work," she said.

"I’m behind on my mortgage. I know a lot of my stylists haven’t paid their mortgage. It’s either come in and make money to be able to feed your family or stay home and freak out."