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Good morning and happy Saturday. I attended an interesting panel this week on early childhood education. Did you know that DFW alone has more young children than 41 states combined? That’s a lot of kiddos! With our three under five at home, it feels like most of them are living in our house.
And heads up, I’ve put the paywall further into the newsletter and dropped the subscription price to $7/month or $77/year. I’d love to earn your support.
Quote of the Week
“This is not a criminal trial. This is not a civil trial. This is a political trial.”
Texas By the Numbers
71 days until the November 7, 2023 general election and 190 days until the March 5, 2024 primary elections.
18 days until the Texas Senate convenes for the impeachment trial of Ken Paxton.
As of July, Texas has 15,078,400 people in the workforce, an addition of more than 26,000 jobs over the previous month. Texas created 441,700 jobs from July 2022 to July 2023.
In July, the Texas employment rate remained flat at 4.1%.
A barrel of West Texas Crude Oil sold yesterday for $80.61.
Texas is fighting 62 active wildfires affecting 14,851 acres as of yesterday.
Meanwhile, 88% of the state is in some stage of drought while over 15% of the state is in exceptional drought. These numbers are both up over last week.
The Week’s Theme: Taking the Policy Fights to Court
“To me a lawyer is basically a person that knows the rules of the country. We’re all throwing the dice, playing the game, moving our piece around the board. But if there’s a problem, the lawyer is the only person that has actually read the inside of the top of the box.”
We’ve got a lot of folks reading the inside of the top of the box lately in Texas. It seems like everyone is getting in on the legal action. And I’m not even talking about the upcoming impeachment trial of Ken Paxton. That is an entirely other can of legal worms.
It’s not just your typical post-session lawsuits seeking injunctions against the new laws taking effect September 1. The developments have been wide-ranging. Local v. State. State v. Federal. Officials v. Officials.
I wonder if the policy divides are simply becoming so deep that litigation is the natural result. As in, we’re no longer “agreeing to disagree.” We are all convinced of our positions and we’re willing to hash it out in court.
Litigation is much different than legislation. Political strategies don’t always translate well into courtroom strategies. If you take a policy to court, you better be pretty certain that the law is on your side.
With that, here’s a quick rundown of all the things bouncing around the courts right now.
United States v. Greg Abbott. This one is kinda the main show. The federal government sued Gov. Abbott after Texas deployed a buoy barrier in the Rio Grande. The Department of Justice argues that the barrier violates the Rivers and Harbors Act while. Texas denies this and argues further that even if it does violate that law, Texas’s sovereign right to defend itself trumps.
Hotze v. Texas State Senate, et. al. Steve Hotze, a well-known Houston conservative, sued the Texas Senate and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick claiming that both Patrick’s gag order and Sen. Angela Paxton’s recusal were unconstitutional. The federal judge dismissed the suit this week on grounds that the court lacks subject matter jurisdiction (i.e., this is a political question not suitable for judicial review).
State of Texas, et al. v. Planned Parenthood, et al. This case was filed by Texas last year, but a key hearing took place this week. Texas is seeking over $1 billion in reimbursements and penalties for Medicaid payments it says Planned Parenthood failed to make.