The Texas lawmaker trying to give Texas its own power to arrest and deport undocumented migrants said at a Wednesday hearing that he believes the state has “sovereign” authority to ignore federal law.
This thing:
The Texas lawmaker trying to give Texas its own power to arrest and deport undocumented migrants said at a Wednesday hearing that he believes the state has “sovereign” authority to ignore federal law.
I was about to say.
The proposal would flip the country’s constitutional structure on its head, legal experts say, allowing a state to override a responsibility that’s only ever been assigned to the federal government in the modern era: enforcing the border.
The Constitution’s Supremacy Clause is called that for a reason. But when did reason ever factor into anything that lives a vibrant existence in the Texas general assembly?
Spoiler Alert:
Texas legislators propose many dumb and unconstitutional pieces of legislation that will never even receive a vote in committee.
Articles of Confederation anyone?
Nope
Do Any of the Republican assholes in Texas have any acquaintance with the Law or the US Constitution? Can they read English? Between pardoning murderers, and this stupidity, it is a valid question.
Very true
The Texas lawmaker trying to give Texas its own power to arrest and deport undocumented migrants said at a Wednesday hearing that he believes the state has “sovereign” authority to ignore federal law.
Eh, no. Unless, of course, the flag has gold fringe on it. Then all bets are off.
More seriously: What a moron.
Sovereign citizen logic trying to be applied to a state.
To say I’m no fan of this Supreme Court is an understatement, but I think the MAGA crowd is going to keep pushing such obviously unconstitutional crap in the mistaken belief that their justices will uphold it all. If even at least a few of the conservative justices can’t swallow everything the crazies send to them, as I think will be the case, not only is that good for the country as a legal matter but it will also demoralize the crazies who are convinced they own the Court. If you can’t get your shit through this Court there’s no way you ever will. Conversely, the Court may uphold even this nonsense and that will pave the way for Texas to secede from the Union. I’m good with either outcome.
Seems to me we had a big war to decide the issue of whether states can declare federal laws “inoperative.”
Until they do!
And here’s the problem right here:
5. Owning a set of the Encyclopedia Britannica is against the law.
It wouldn’t occur to anyone that owning a harmless set of literature, like the books making up the Encyclopedia Britannica, would be deemed illegal. But in Texas, one eagle-eyed legislator realized that one of the books contained a formula for making beer at home, which is illegal in the state. Therefore, the state legislature voted to ban the set of books.
(Amazingly, Googling “Stupidest legislation in Texas” produces over 400,000 results 
)
Since the Biden administration has shown little or no interest in trying to organize the border circus they have created, this seems a reasonable action by the State of Texas, to get some control over the mass invasion from the south.
“The purpose of this bill is to assert the state of Texas’ constitutional authority to defend the sovereignty of our state"
As a Texan by birth, I’m well used to this endless asserting of Texas’ special/superior status, but these Republican may-rons really need to figure out that Texas is not a country, no matter how much they wish it still was.
Per a fiscal note released on Wednesday, the legislature estimated that hiring 100 “commissioned officer positions” would cost $67.5 million over the next two years; 1,000 officers would cost $678.3 million over the same time period. The U.S.-Mexico border extends 1,254 miles in Texas.
Under Operation Lone Star, Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has deployed state troopers and the state national guard to the border in a dramatically expensive show of force that, the American Immigration Council told TPM, costs the state roughly $2.5 million per week.
So where will TX get the money to pay for their own border control officers, let alone the set up costs?
The $2.5M to pay the Texas NG a week is cheaper than what this TX legislator is proposing.
What’s “reasonable” about ineffectual grandstanding without even the pretense of a sound legal argument?
It is not illegal to homebrew in Texas, nor has it ever been illegal to own an encyclopedia. You can find statutes in any state that, if overbroadly applied, would yield absurd or unconstitutional results. It is rather much rarer to have laws enacted that are farcical on their face.
I see no evidence of that effect.
I’ll have to get back to you on that.
Based on what has been said in done in the name of people who live in Texas, these philosophies spring from curious concepts of how the world works. It seems to me that any sense of what makes a genuine governmental interest follows an exotic thought process unlike that of most other people. What remains a puzzle to me is how can such an absurd concept described in this article maintains the support of Texas voters.
Ok, great. This is obviously unconstitutional.
But then given the current composition of the USSC, who knows?
And yet, I remain not amazed.