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Hotze et. al. v Abbott deals with three major issues. First, it challenges the constitutionality of Governor Abbott’s executive orders, which locked down and regulated most business activities in Texas and banned and then regulated church worship services. Secondly, it challenges the constitutionality of Abbott’s surveillance and contact tracing program. Thirdly, it seeks monetary damages for regulatory inverse condemnation of businesses. Abbott violated the First, Fourth, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution by issuing a series of executive orders and implementing a surveillance and contact tracing program for COVID-19. These orders violated the First Amendment rights of free exercise of religion, and the right of the people to peaceably assemble. These orders also violated the Fifth Amendment rights of Texans by depriving them of their liberty and property rights without just compensation, and their Fourteenth Amendment rights of equal protection under the law by choosing which businesses would be considered essential and which would be considered non-essential. Abbott denied Texans due process under the law. Abbott’s surveillance and contact tracing program violates the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution by allowing surveillance of citizens without a warrant. This program also violates the First, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments’ rights to peaceable assembly, due process, and equality under the law.
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