The Texas Supreme Court has granted a petition filed  by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton seeking to block orders in Austin and Travis County that prohibited dine-in food and beverage services between the hours of 10:30 p.m. and 6 a.m. over the New Year's weekend.

“WE WON!” Paxton wrote on his Twitter page on Jan. 1. “Texas Supreme Court stops Mayor Adler’s illegal order shutting down restaurants and bars.” 

"The city and county orders clearly violate the governor’s Executive Order No. 32," he also said. "Local authorities have no authority to override. We cannot have local declarations conflicting with Gov. Abbott’s clear order.”

Introduced by Austin Mayor Steve Adler and Travis County Judge Andy Brown, the executive orders forced restaurants in Austin and Travis counties to shut down their dine-in services between 10:30 p.m. and 6 a.m. from Dec. 31 to Jan. 3, only allowing take-out and delivery services to run.

Brown issued a statement in response to the ruling:

“I am disappointed by the Texas Supreme Court decision as it limits our ability to slow the spread of COVID-19 in our community. I continue to encourage everyone in Travis County to celebrate and eat safely at home until our overall COVID-19 numbers have decreased. I also would ask everyone to consider supporting local restaurants by ordering food for takeout as I did with my family last night.”

Vice President of the Austin Police Association, Justin Berry also aired his sentiments on Twitter, saying people still need to make a living despite the pandemic. 

Gov. Greg Abbott had already tweeted, supposedly in support of Paxton, encouraging people to defy the city order and continue with indoor dining. KVUE reported that on New Year’s Eve, many were queuing to get in bars and some were not even wearing masks.

Austin Mayor Adler has been criticized for the restrictions he keeps imposing which have a great impact on businesses, hence the lawsuit by AG Paxton. Adler’s full restrictions can be read here