After learning that Buxboro Independent School District would not re-open campuses until September 8th and dismayed that her children Digger (12), Trixie (9) and Hustler (5) would not receive personal instruction, Anna Nicole Pawlenty posted on a Facebook mom group “I’m in Buxboro, and I’m ‘podding up.’ Who’s with me?” . Can just anyone home school their children? What are the implications? School in Texas Under the Texas Education Code, Texas law requires each school district to…

When restaurants were ordered to shutter – and before PPP – Ernest Bux’s sister Cookie Bux who owns Beef O’Bux Restaurants was in a bind. Should she lay off or furlough employees who were showing up for work to her empty restaurant chain? What’s the difference between laying off employees and furloughing them? What are her options? Layoffs v. Furloughs? A layoff is if Cookie dismisses the employees – no expectation of resuming work and…

Before the pandemic, Ernest Bux’s niece Chit Bux signed a lease with Iona Mall in an upscale strip shopping center and hired a contractor to build out her dream business – a beauty salon “Cuts & Fluffs.” When Dallas County ordered businesses to shutter last spring, Chit’s “essential business” construction on her salon continued toward meeting the originally scheduled July 1st opening date – perhaps the worst time to open a high-touch, close-quarters beauty salon.…

The extraordinary measures designed to slow the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) continue to cause constitutional clashes. My last post’s opening hypothetical about members of a congregation being ticketed for attending church services has now become a reality, and the Supreme Court has given its first hint on how it would strike the balance between fundamental constitutional rights and the government’s interest in preserving public health. The Court’s decision indicates that it will defer to…

In an attempt to slow the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19), the county judge has issued a shelter-in-place order that prohibits all public gatherings. Violations are a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of $1,000 or 180 days imprisonment. Defying the order, Reverend Elmer Gantry opens his church on Sunday morning to a smaller but still enthusiastic congregation. As the members leave at the end of the service, they are met by a sheriff’s deputy, who hands…