Reproduce
- Have two tags sit near each other
- Activate one
- Quickly activate the other
- Quickly move mouse to another position, deactivating all
The z-index works just fine, but when all tags are deselected, the z-index is reset, causing the z-order of elements to respect DOM-order, in turn possibly causing flickering.
Solution
Make sure the z-index sticks until the element is hidden.