In what is only the second order issued by the newly-created Fifteenth Court of Appeals, the state of Texas was denied its request to bar the State Fair of Texas from enforcing a ban on firearms.
“The court, having reviewed the motion and the briefing filed by both the state and defendants, hereby denies the state’s request for temporary relief and the state’s alternative request for an administrative stay,” reads the two-sentence per curiam order issued by Chief Justice Scott Brister and Justices Scott Field and April Farris.
Texas filed notice of its appeal on Sept. 19, the same day Dallas County District Judge Emily Tobolowsky declined to enter an injunction that would stop the policy from taking effect.
The state fair will open to the public Sept. 27. Texas can still appeal to the Texas Supreme Court.
The defendants in the lawsuit — the State Fair of Texas, the city of Dallas and its interim city manager — have alleged the case is really about property rights, while the attorney general’s office has publicized the litigation as necessary to defend gun rights.
“We believe this is the correct ruling and we’re pleased they ruled so quickly,” said Jeff Tillotson of Tillotson Johnson and Patton, who represents the city of Dallas.
When Paxton filed suit, he did so after giving the State Fair 15 days’ notice that he intended to pursue legal action against the entity if it did not rescind the gun policy.
“Municipalities cannot nullify state law nor can they avoid accountability by contracting official functions to nominally third parties,” he said in a news release. “Neither the City of Dallas nor the State Fair of Texas can infringe on Texans’ right to self-defense.”
The State Fair has argued it shouldn’t be prohibited from “exercising its private property rights as a landholder under a lease agreement to prohibit firearms at the State Fair of Texas.”
“So as long as it is not the city of Dallas that has imposed and implemented the prohibition on firearms at Fair Park during the Fair, there has not been and there cannot have been any violation of section 411.209,” the State Fair argued, citing the government code Paxton alleges has been violated. “As will be established at the temporary injunction hearing, the city had nothing to do with SFOT’s decision to prohibit firearms at Fair Park during the Fair.”
The State Fair is represented by Holland & Knight lawyers Jim Harris, Bryan Neal, Weston J. Mumme and Cole Browndorf.
Texas is represented by Ernest C. Garcia, Canon Parker Hill, Steven Ogle and Melissa Juarez of the Texas attorney general’s office.
The case number is 15-24-00103-CV.