BEAUMONT, Texas (Legal Newsline) – Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says more than 1,000 plaintiffs have no standing to sue him over the state’s contact tracing plan.
The litigants say they’re being spied on during the coronavirus pandemic and sued Abbott earlier this year, but his Dec. 1 motion to dismiss also argues he is entitled to sovereign immunity from their claims.
Abbott entered into a $295 million for contract tracing services “in order to begin surveillance and monitoring of the daily activities of Texans” in May, the lawsuit says. He did this to ensure compliance with his social-gathering restrictions imposed during the pandemic.
“Plaintiffs offer no facts describing how each of the 1,300 named individuals suffered any concrete and particularized injury-in-fact, much less one that is based on an action taken by the Governor,” Abbott’s motion says.
“Indeed, the only facts pleaded about nearly all Plaintiffs is their county of residence, their occupation, and their status as “a Texas resident.”
Two plaintiffs who allege specific incidents – one says he was approached by health officials, another says she was arrested for opening her bar in May – can’t “bootstrap” their claims to the other plaintiffs, Abbott says.
Abbott also claims he does not enforce the challenged executive orders and contact tracing protocols.
“Multiple courts, including the Fifth Circuit and the Texas Supreme Court, have already determined that a plaintiff lacks standing to sue the Governor over his executive orders precisely because he is not in charge of enforcing those orders,” the motion says.