Editor’s Note: The State Bar of Texas is providing this collection of important links, blog posts, and media stories to keep its members and the public informed of the latest news and resources related to the novel coronavirus outbreak and its impact on the legal community.
Important links
State Bar of Texas Coronavirus Legal Resources Page — Texasbar.com/coronavirus
State Bar of Texas Coronavirus Public Resources Page — Texasbar.com/COVIDHelp
Texas Lawyers’ Assistance Program Well-being Resources page — Texasbar.com/remote-well-being
Quarantine cooking, wills through windows: Lawyers are adapting to COVID-19 rules — Stories of resilience in the legal industry include comments from Chris Ritter, director of the Texas Lawyers Assistance Program. (Subscription required) — Texas Lawyer
Texas officials say they see signs that social distancing is slowing the spread of coronavirus — Gov. Greg Abbott said he’d issue an order next week to lay the groundwork for reopening the state’s economy. — The Texas Tribune
Texas Supreme Court stays lower court ruling, temporarily reviving Gov. Abbott’s order restricting jail release — On Friday, a state district judge blocked enforcement of Abbott’s order, which prohibits jail release for some inmates without paying bail during the coronavirus pandemic. She cited unconstitutional provisions and executive overreach as reasons for her order. — The Texas Tribune
Texas prisons won’t accept new county jail inmates as coronavirus spreads in lockups — The Texas Department of Justice sent a letter to county sheriffs announcing the new policy Saturday. — The Texas Tribune
COVID-19 patients given unproven drug in Texas nursing home in ‘disconcerting’ move — Concern is mounting after a doctor at a Texas nursing home started giving the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine to dozens of elderly patients diagnosed with COVID-19 and tracking the outcomes in what he’s calling an “observational study.” — NPR
Legal community has mixed reactions to ABA resolution on limited law practice for recent grads — As law students worry about what the coronavirus pandemic will mean for their careers, some lawyers say those concerns should be eased by a Tuesday ABA resolution urging states to adopt emergency rules authorizing supervised limited practice for recent graduates, along with a bar pass requirement of no later than December 2021. — ABA Journal
Reporters barred, records delayed: How coronavirus shrouds government in secrecy — Pennsylvania is one 35 states to temporarily alter open government laws to curb the spread of coronavirus, according to a USA TODAY Network analysis of government press releases, newspaper articles and information collected by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and the National Governors Association. — Austin American-Statesman
Safety versus liberty: Litigators push for constitutional rights amid COVID-19 restrictions — In states like Texas, New York, Georgia, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C., lawyers are filing cases arguing that governments’ coronavirus restrictions are violating Americans’ constitutional rights. (Subscription required) — Texas Lawyer
Texas banned abortion during the pandemic, but she got one anyway. How the legal battle is creating confusion for clinics — The courts volleyed back and forth this week, siding in turns with the state and then with abortion providers. But clinics across the state are responding inconsistently, with some shutting down altogether while they await a final answer. — The Texas Tribune
A Laredo ER spent $500,000 on coronavirus tests. Health officials say they’re unreliable. — A private emergency room owner bought 20,000 rapid COVID-19 tests, but a week later they were seized by the federal government. It’s a bitter example of what can go wrong when local governments try to buy supplies on the open market from unknown manufacturers. — The Texas Tribune
Report: Stockpile of 39 million masks exposed as fake — A major California labor union that claimed to have discovered a stockpile of 39 million masks for health care workers fighting the coronavirus was duped in an elaborate scam uncovered by FBI investigators, according to a newspaper report Sunday. — The Associated Press
Most migrants cross at the Texas border. Here’s how the flow of people intersects with Trump’s policies. — Here’s how the situation at the border is changing due to the coronavirus pandemic. U.S. Customs and Border Protection can now immediately return most migrants they apprehend or deem inadmissible. — The Texas Tribune
Public defenders in Louisiana are told to slash budgets as traffic-ticket funding plummets — Eighteen out of 44 district public defender offices in the state are in danger of insolvency, the Washington Post reports. — ABA Journal
‘Take heart. Be strong’: David Lat on how COVID-19 has changed his life and the legal profession — The Above the Law founder-turned-legal recruiter talks about his brush with death and what he’s learned from the ordeal. (Subscription required) — Texas Lawyer
3 stories to ponder during shelter-in-place order — I’m entering week three of sheltering-in-place and thinking about the stories of James Stockdale in a POW camp in North Vietnam; concentration camp survivor Viktor Frankel; and Dante’s “The Inferno.” (Subscription required) — Texas Lawyer
Law firm advertisement brings some good-natured levity to the COVID-19 pandemic (video) — In uncertain times, these lawyers want to remind you that they’re still out there. — Above The Law
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