Dallas Judge Was Still Enforcing COVID Mask Rules in 2026 - Then the Chief Justice Stepped In

A Dallas judge has apparently been running her courtroom like it's spring 2020. Masks required. Health screenings required. Discussion of gastrointestinal symptoms required. The only thing missing was a six-foot social distancing sticker on the floor. And honestly, who knows?

The WHO — yes, that WHO, the same unelected international health bureaucracy that spent the early days of COVID-19 cheerleading for China and assuring the world there was "no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission" — convened its Emergency Committee for the 15th time and finally called it. COVID emergency over. May 5, 2023. Done. And even then, Director-General Tedros couldn't fully stick the landing, warning the virus was "still killing and still changing" in the same breath he used to declare it finished. The man declared victory and issued a warning simultaneously.

Yesterday, the #COVID19 Emergency Committee met for the 15th time and recommended to me that I declare an end to the public health emergency of international concern. I have accepted that advice.

With great hope I declare COVID-19 over as a global health emergency.
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) May 5, 2023

Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice James Blacklock sent a sharply worded letter Wednesday to Dallas County Court at Law Judge D'Metria Benson, demanding she either justify or withdraw a courtroom mask mandate that has been requiring attorneys, jurors, witnesses, and members of the public to wear masks and disclose personal health information before entering her courtroom. In the year 2026.

Read that again. The year 2026.

"I am aware of no legitimate basis on which a Texas judge may condition a person's presence in a courtroom on a mask requirement or on a heightened health screening," Blacklock wrote.

That is a polite way of saying: There is no legal basis for this, and you should have known that. From the Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court, that's about as close to a public dressing-down as it gets in formal legal correspondence.

NEW: SCOTX Chief Justice Jimmy Blacklock is demanding answers from a Dallas judge over her courtroom mask mandate, warning he is “aware of no legitimate basis” for requiring masks or health disclosures to enter a Texas courtroom.

Blacklock gave Judge D’Metria Benson until Friday… pic.twitter.com/QeO1UiFlAM
— Brandon Waltens (@bwaltens) May 14, 2026

Texas courts ended their statewide COVID emergency years ago and moved on. But according to a legal challenge filed by Dallas attorney Scott Frenkel, Benson's courtroom procedures were still being enforced in 2026 — a higher bar, apparently, than the entire international public health apparatus.

Frenkel says he was blocked from entering the courtroom because he refused to wear a mask, and that the standing order required not just masks but answers to health screening questions, including questions about diarrhea.

Yes. Diarrhea. Before entering a Texas courtroom. In 2026.

"It is hard to imagine a more degrading scenario," attorney Brian Hail wrote in the complaint.

It gets worse. During at least one jury trial, according to the complaint, Benson exempted herself from her own mandate. Lawyers, clients, jurors, witnesses — all masked, all day, under threat of contempt. The judge sat at the bench unmasked. Apparently, the virus understood to stay on its side of the room.

"To recap, my client goes to jail as lead counsel in a trial for his client if he doesn't wear a mask, but the Judge can conduct a trial in the comfort of no mask," the filing states.

Rules for thee, not for the person holding the gavel.

That detail alone was apparently enough for the Chief Justice. Blacklock gave Benson until Friday at 5 p.m. to either confirm that the policy no longer exists or explain why the Texas Supreme Court should not order it withdrawn.

Benson has served on the bench since 2014, but lost her Democratic primary for reelection earlier this year to challenger Erin Nowell. Frenkel, the attorney who filed the challenge, wrote that he helped get Benson elected to the bench originally — and supported her in every race until this last one. Even her allies had seen enough.

FDA Doctors Linked Child Deaths to COVID Vaccines - Biden Admin Stayed Silent

When the lawyer who helped put you on the bench is now filing formal legal challenges against your courtroom procedures, the voters may have picked up on something.

Sometimes, they see enough before the Chief Justice even has to write the letter.

Editor's Note: Unelected federal judges are hijacking President Trump's agenda and insulting the will of the people.

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