Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick slammed a local judge who ordered a salon owner to be jailed for resuming her business amid the coronavirus pandemic.
During an interview with Fox News host Tucker Carlson, Patrick tore into the Dallas judge Eric Moye, who issued a strict punishment for salon owner Shelley Luther after she refused to apologize for violating social distancing orders.
“How could a judge in your state throw a woman behind bars for going to work?” Carlson asked.
“When you are cold-hearted, when you have no compassion, when you don’t understand mercy, which, by the way, Tucker, every judge should have that quality,” Patrick, who asked to be punished in the place of Luther, said of the judge. “It could have been a $50 fine, but no. He had to punish her. … We saw the worst side of what a judge can be, and that’s really what it’s about.”
Carlson then asked Patrick if the judge exhibited “cruel and awful” behavior toward other residents in his area, adding he hopes voters will correct it by voting against Moye.
“He’s on the ballot in November,” Patrick said. “He has a reputation of being a judge who can be pretty cold. I would call him a radical leftist on the court.”
Patrick said, in addition to the human cost of the novel coronavirus pandemic, the disease has ravaged American businesses and destroyed the dreams of working Texans.
“This is not the way America should be. This is not the way the judicial system should work. And yes, she shouldn’t have broken the order, but a $50 fine? And if I had been on the bench, I would have said, ‘You know, I’m going to have to fine you $50, Shelley, but I salute you for standing up and going back to work.’ But he couldn’t do that,” Patrick said, adding that Democrats “enjoy being tyrants.”
