Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice James Blacklock has told a Dallas trial judge that she needs to reconsider her standing order requiring mask mandates and disclosure of personal health information before entering her courtroom.
“It has come to my attention that you may be requiring people entering your courtroom to wear facemasks and to divulge intimate information about their health,” Chief Justice Blacklock wrote to Dallas County Court at Law Judge D’Metria Benson today.
The chief justice enclosed in his letter a copy of The Texas Lawbook article from Tuesday.
“If this is not true, I apologize for wasting your time,” Chief Justice Blacklock wrote. “If this is true, please carefully reconsider whether you have legal authority for these actions. I am aware of no legitimate basis on which a Texas judge may condition a person’s presence in a courtroom on a mask requirement or on a heightened health screening.”
Products liability and medical malpractice trial lawyer Scott Frenkel filed a legal challenge against Judge Benson claiming that she has a standing order requiring people in her courtroom to wear Covid-19-era facemasks and to disclose if they have certain health issues, such as diarrhea.
In a 14-page letter dated May 4 to First Administrative Judicial Region Judge Ray Wheless, Frenkel’s lawyer, Brian Hail, argues that the standing order “lacks any supporting legal authority” and infringes “on the constitutional right to a fair trial by jury by inhibiting the jury’s role in assessing witness credibility.”
In the one-page letter to Judge Benson, Chief Justice Blacklock said that Rule 10(f) of the Rules of Judicial Administration states, “The Supreme Court may direct a court to amend or withdraw a local rule, form, or standing order if the Supreme Court determines that the rule, form, or standing order … is unfair or unduly burdensome.”
“Please respond either by clarifying that you do not require masks or heightened health screenings as a condition of entry into or presence within your courtroom, or by explaining why the Court should not direct you to withdraw any such requirement,” Chief Justice Blacklock wrote. “Please respond via email by 5 p.m. Friday, May 15.”