Keep Nine Amendment
April 2022
TFRW has formally announced its support for the Keep Nine Amendment to the United States Constitution. This
proposed amendment states, “The Supreme Court of the United States shall be composed of nine Justices.” TFRW joins
the National Federation of Republican Women (NFRW) and the Republican National Committee (RNC), among others, in
supporting this endeavor.
Our Founding Fathers crafted a magnificent document, our Constitution, that ensures certain unalienable rights to all
Americans. These rights are protected, at least in part, by the independence of the Judiciary but are being threatened by
progressive lawmakers pushing to pack our Supreme Court. While the Supreme Court has not always consisted of nine
justices, it has been that way for more than 150 years.
The impetus for an amendment to prohibit court packing began in 2019 when Senator Rubio, joined by Senator Cornyn
and 20 other Republican senators, filed S.J. Res. 14 which provides “The Supreme Court of the United States shall be
composed of not more than nine justices.”(1) Then, in the summer of 2020, a bipartisan group dominated by former state attorneys general formed the Coalition to Preserve the Independence of the Supreme Court, which calls itself “Keep Nine” for short. Subsequently, in February 2021, Senator Cruz introduced the “Keep Nine” amendment in the Senate. See S.J. Res. 9. The goal of both resolutions is to prevent either party from using the Supreme Court as a political tool for its own advantage, and the good news is that Texas Republican leaders are united when it comes to maintaining our Supreme Court at nine justices. This is the perfect time for our members to approach their Congressional Representatives and Congressional candidates and ask them to go on the record in support of the Keep Nine amendment. This will not be an easy effort, because amending the U.S. Constitution typically requires the vote of 2/3 of the members of both the House and the Senate and then ratification by 3/4 of state legislatures. (2)
For more information about Keep Nine, go to keepnine.org. If you are interested in working on this initiative with TFRW,
contact me at vplegislation@tfrw.org to join our Keep Nine committee.
Run Offs
Republican Runoff Election: May 24, 2022
Llano County : Precinct 4 J.P- Lisa Simpson vs William Koch
District 24 State Senate: Pete Flores vs Raul Reyes
Texas Attorney General: Ken Paxton vs George P. Bush
Texas Land Commissioner: Dawn Buckingham vs Tim Westley
Property Taxes
State lawmakers will tell you they hate property taxes as much as anyone. But the state itself doesn’t levy the tax — local governments do. And lowering it in a meaningful way would require state officials to raise taxes or cut programs. For them, talking about it is easier than doing something.
TransGender Issues
Texas appeals court (3 rd Court of Appeals) on Monday reinstated a temporary injunction blocking Texas from investigating parents for child abuse if they allow their transgender children to receive gender-affirming care. They issued the order as part of a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal on behalf of the parents of a transgender teenager who were being investigated by child welfare workers.
“Having reviewed the record, we conclude that reinstating the temporary injunction is necessary to maintain the status quo and preserve the rights of all parties,” said the unsigned order by Chief Justice Darlene Byrne and Justices Chari Kelly and Edward Smith. (all 3 are Democrats elected in 2018).
Last month, Attorney General Ken Paxton issued a nonbinding legal opinion arguing that some gender-affirming care for minors could be considered child abuse. Four days after the opinion published, Gov. Greg Abbott directed the Department of Family and Protective Services to investigate parents facilitating gender-affirming care for their kids.
District Judge Amy Clark Meachum issued the temporary injunction March 11 after the ACLU and Lambda Legal sued.
The same night Meachum’s injunction was issued, Paxton filed an appeal and claimed he froze the injunction, allowing the state to continue investigations. However, experts said the appeal fell into a complicated legal area, and lawyers had challenged such automatic stays before, claiming the state should not be able to overturn an injunction simply by filing an appeal.
With Monday’s order, the injunction for now will continue to block the ongoing — and any new — investigations into Texans accused of child abuse based only on the allegation that they provided gender-affirming medical care.
Submitted by Mary Cunningham