In a Dallas courtroom this week, proponents of prolonged business closures were confronted by an important reality: People need to make a living.

That was, in essence, Shelley Luther’s legal defense — a defense the Dallas salon owner was forced to make after she reopened her hair salon in defiance of a county judge’s cease-and-desist letter. “I have no choice,” Luther said as she took the stand. “I need to feed my family, and my stylists could not feed their families.”