A Houston federal judge ruled Friday that the Republican Party of Texas may proceed with its in-person convention, according to lawyers involved in the litigation, a striking last-minute development as party officials have struggled to get a virtual gathering underway.

Jared Woodfill, an attorney for Houston activist Steve Hotze, who helped file the lawsuit, said Judge Lynn Hughes ruled that the party can hold an in-person convention both this weekend and next weekend — and “that the City of Houston may not interfere with it.”

According to Woodfill, Hughes concluded that the state party, which joined the lawsuit Friday, “made a good-faith effort to have a virtual convention" and that Houston put the party "in an untenable position to do it [virtually] in a very short period of time.”

Earlier this week, the party’s State Republican Executive Committee voted to move the convention online after losing separate legal battles to proceed with an in-person gathering, which was set to take place Thursday through Saturday at Houston’s George R. Brown Convention Center before Houston officials canceled it.

July 17, 2020

Federal judge rules Texas GOP convention can proceed at George R. Brown in downtown Houston

Source: Houston Chronicle

A Houston federal judge on Friday ruled that Mayor Sylvester Turner and Houston First, the city’s convention agency, must allow the Texas Republican Party to proceed with an in-person convention at the George R. Brown Convention Center.

Judge Lynn Hughes of the Southern District of Texas found that the city had infringed upon the Texas GOP’s constitutional rights by canceling the convention, which initially was set to run from Thursday through Saturday before Turner ordered Houston First to nix it.

Hughes gave the party the option of using the convention center this weekend and next, according to Jared Woodfill, an attorney for Houston conservative activist Steve Hotze, who initially filed the lawsuit with a handful of other plaintiffs.

The party began its convention online Thursday but encountered technical difficulties, forcing officials to postpone the event. The party joined Hotze’s lawsuit Friday.

The Texas GOP’s executive committee now will decide whether to reverse course and hold the convention in person, after recently voting to hold it virtually. The committee first voted by a two-to-one margin to continue with the in-person event, before voting to hold it online after a series of legal defeats in state district court and the Texas Supreme Court.

Read more: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Federal-judge-rules-Texas-GOP-convention-can-15416590.php?utm_campaign=CMS%20Sharing%20Tools%20(Premium)&utm_source=t.co&utm_medium=referral

July 17, 2020

Federal court rules for TX in person GOP convention

https://twitter.com/quorumreport/status/1284235599646523392

July 17, 2020

07/19 mike Luckovich-Joyride

https://twitter.com/mluckovichajc/status/1284232920291573763

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