How should judges judge during a pandemic? The same way they should judge during normal times: By assessing the evidence and independently determining the law. At least four justices on the Texas Supreme Court agree. In a May 5 opinion, they explain why judicial independence cannot be set aside during an emergency.

The case started when a group of Texas businesses, which cannot legally open, challenged local shutdown orders through an emergency petition to the state Supreme Court. Unsurprisingly the court dismissed the request and told the businesses they had to go to trial court first, where almost all lawsuits, even emergency ones, are supposed to start. However, four of the nine justices signed onto a statement warning that this and similar challenges cannot be dismissed out of hand in the lower courts simply because of the current pandemic.