Wednesday, May 05, 2021

Hump Day Bad Lege Round-up


Today the Republican-controlled statehouse moved quickly to outlaw a woman's right to make her reproductive choices, and to criminalize the actions of those who would assist her in doing so.


The bill is designed to be challenged at the SCOTUS, in a direct threat to Roe v. Wade with the new conservative justices -- installed by a corrupt US Senate process and its former leader, Mitch McConnell -- standing by, ready to strike it down.

When the previous president outsourced judicial selection to the Federalist Society, everyone understood that McConnell's long game of blocking Obama's bench appointments had paid off.  And Senate Democratic leadership declined to pay it back, allowing Moscow Mitch to pack the courts, which included ram-rodding the abominable Amy Barrett onto the Supreme Court just a few weeks after the death of Ruth Bader Ginsberg.  Barrett's well-known beliefs on this issue is the linchpin.

Their scheme is coming to fruition.  There have been many players and many circumstances that got us to this point, but do not discount the subtle, conservative extremism of the still shiny-new Speaker of the Texas House, Dade Phelan.

A number of states have already passed six-week abortion bans, only to see them struck down -- including by conservative courts such as the Fifth Circuit, which last year threw out a Mississippi law banning abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected. “All agree that cardiac activity can be detected well before the fetus is viable,” the court wrote, adding: “That dooms the law.” Under Roe v Wade, the Supreme Court held that women have the right to an abortion prior to the point of viability.

Pro-life groups in Texas are trying a different tack. SB8, as passed by the Senate, would leave enforcement to individuals by creating a private cause for action. Such a law might not pass constitutional muster, but it can’t be challenged via the same litigation strategy that has thwarted all the other statewide six-week bans passed to date.

“It’s legally clever in some ways,” conceded Blake Rocap, the legislative director for Avow, the nonprofit formerly known as NARAL Pro-Choice Texas.
This is Phelan's agenda.  His role -- appointing the chairs and members comprising the House committees who carry this water -- has been key.

That’s right: under SB8, anyone in the country could sue a Texan who “performs or induces an abortion in violation of this chapter” or who “knowingly engages in conduct that aids or abets the performance of an abortion” -- or, for that matter, who “intends to engage” in such conduct. [...] It would be absurd to be sued for such a thing, of course. But sillier lawsuits have been brought. And in addition to everything else -- and in stark contrast to the state’s general approach to frivolous lawsuits -- SB 8 would protect the litigants in such a situation, no matter how vindictive their motives or ridiculous their arguments: if you successfully defend yourself from such a lawsuit, you can’t even recoup your legal fees or other costs. [...] That may not be sufficient to thwart SB8’s passage in the House, or to prevent Republican Gov. Greg Abbott from signing it; he has declared abortion restrictions a priority for this session. Advocates are curious to see if it’s amended on the House floor -- and pessimistic about their chances of stopping the bill’s passage outright, given that the chamber is controlled by Republicans, more than 60 of whom have signed on as sponsors or cosponsors.

They will brag about this for years to come.  They will fund-raise on it.  They will gerrymander their seats so they can remain in Austin and Washington to do more and do worse, and they will restrict and suppress the votes of those who oppose them.

It's what they do.  Who's going to stop them?  Texas Democrats?


In other bad Lege news:


That's a great civics and First Amendment lesson for the kids, isn't it?


Update: The House permitless carry bill, HB1927, is being jammed through the Senate, courtesy Charles Schwertner, as I write this.


I don't have the tolerance for any more today.  I'll have a catch-up post on Friday.  I need to go long on the "calm-me-downs", previously assembled.

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Republicans will rally, fund-raise this weekend to seal hold on Texas for 2022, '24


Wake me from this nightmare.


The event is this Friday.

The group of high-profile Republicans are set to appear May 7 at an Austin resort where each will be interviewed by members of the Texas congressional delegation, according to a schedule obtained by The Texas Tribune. The group includes Pence, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina and U.S. Sen. Rick Scott of Florida.

The event at the Omni Barton Creek Resort & Spa (protest, anyone?) is being hosted by Gov. Greg Abbott and U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, and it is meant to serve as a show of appreciation to donors who raised millions of dollars last year for efforts to keep Texas red and register new GOP voters.

I don't suppose you noticed who's missing?


I hear Mango Hitler needs a running mate for 2024.  I'll go ahead and put down some early money on ^that^ being the ticket.

Take a moment if needed to purge your stomach of its contents.

Cornyn is set to be the delegation member who interviews Pence, while U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul of Austin will interview Pompeo, U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales of San Antonio will interview Rubio, U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw of Houston will interview DeSantis, Rep. August Pfluger of San Angelo will interview Cotton, Rep. Roger Williams of Austin will interview Rick Scott, Rep. Kevin Brady of The Woodlands will interview Tim Scott and Rep. Beth Van Duyne of Arlington will interview Christie.

Abbott, who himself has not ruled out a 2024 White House bid, is expected to speak but may have to stick around the Texas Capitol, where the biennial legislative session is in its final weeks.

The big-name Republicans are using the Texas trip to also disperse across the state to fundraise for Take Back the House Texas 2022, a joint fundraising committee made up of the campaigns of the Texas GOP congressmen who had the closest races last year, according to a source familiar with their plans but not authorized to discuss them on the record. Pence will raise money for the committee Thursday in Austin, while Cotton will be in Fort Worth a day earlier. There will also be fundraisers Thursday with Pompeo in Houston, Rubio in San Antonio, and Tim Scott and Chris Christie in Dallas.

This is a full-court press right from the jump, and Texas Democrats, pantsed less than a week ago in local elections from the Rio Grande to the Sabine to the Red, are unlikely to have their drawers off the floor in time for anything approaching an effective response.

At this point only a vaccine-resistant COVID variant or a giant meteor is going to save us.  I just don't believe that Matthew McConaghey or Beto O'Rourke have what it takes, but somebody please ... make it stop.

I'll have a regular Hump Day Round-up, with all the regular horrors, later today.
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