The Texas Supreme Court on Friday ordered a Dallas County judge to stop requiring masks in her courtroom.
The two-page order sent to Judge D’Metria Benson was signed by all nine of the high court’s justices. Benson, who according to a complaint against her was the only person in her courtroom who wasn’t forced to wear a mask, didn’t immediately respond Friday to a message seeking comment.
Benson, who presides over civil trials in Dallas County, said in a written response to Blacklock that she has health issues that make her highly susceptible to infection. She said she required others to wear masks for her own protection.
The justices wrote in their order that while they sympathize with Benson over her health issues, they believe facial visibility is essential in a properly functioning justice system and called the mandate an “unfair and unduly burdensome imposition.”
“Requiring all those present in a publicly accessible workplace to wear face masks to accommodate one person’s health vulnerability is not the kind of reasonable measure contemplated by state and federal employment laws,” the court wrote.
Dallas attorney Brian Hail, who filed a complaint earlier this month about the judge’s mask rule on behalf of a colleague, on Friday applauded the court’s ruling.
“We’re very pleased,” Hail said. “And I’m exceptionally pleased with how quickly the court acted.”
Hail filed a May 4 complaint with Judge Ray Wheless, the administrative judge who presides over the region that includes Dallas County, on behalf of attorney Scott Frenkel.
Frenkel had been barred from participating in a medical malpractice case before Benson earlier this year because he refused to wear a mask. The lawyer wouldn’t comply with the order because he can’t wear a covering over his nose and mouth for long, Hail said. When Frenkel told Benson’s court bailiff he wouldn’t wear one because the order was unlawful, the bailiff threatened to lock him up if he didn’t stop arguing about it, Hail said.
Hail said Frenkel has seen Benson at multiple social and fundraising events where no one wore masks, including one earlier this year attended by about 75 people.
“For a judge to put herself above the rule of law undermines confidence in the system,” Hail said.
Wheless told The Dallas Morning News earlier this month that the mask issue had been a persistent one with Benson. He said he told her in December 2023 that she had no legal authority to require masks and warned her she could get disciplined by the State Commission on Judicial Conduct.
Benson has presided over Dallas County Court at Law No. 1 since 2006. She was defeated in the March 3 Democratic primary by Erin Nowell, a former appellate court judge. Benson’s term ends Dec. 31.