Federal court bars Texas GOP from holding in-person convention

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals stayed a federal judge’s decision that allowed the Texas Republican Party to hold its in-person convention in Houston on Saturday, Mayor Sylvester Turner (D) tweeted.

Why it matters: The stay effectively bars the Texas GOP from holding its convention just one day after a U.S. district judge granted the party's emergency request to reinstate the event amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The party sued Turner after he called off the convention last week, citing a statewide spike in coronavirus cases.

• Turner instead pushed the GOP to host its gathering online and on Wednesday instructed the venue's operator to cancel its contract with the Republican Party.
• Thousands of delegates were expected to attend the event to vote on the Texas GOP’s presidential electors, Bloomberg writes.

What they're saying: “We applaud Judge Hughes for affirming the position the [Republican Party of Texas] took in our original lawsuit, making clear that Mayor Turner cannot use pretext to infringe our right to an in-person Convention," said Republican Party of Texas Chairman James Dickey in a post Friday after the district judge granted the emergency request.

The big picture: Texas reported 10,256 new cases and 174 fatalities from coronavirus on Friday, its highest single-day casualty count since the start of the pandemic.

• Over the past five days, 543 people in the state have died from coronavirus, while 10,632 are currently hospitalized for the virus.

Go deeper: Texas asks schools to hold online-only classes through November