Slap shot silence

You may remember that in October the Kountze School District had been slapped with a temporary injunction (an order which restrains a person from effecting a legal action or orders redress to an injured party) to prevent the display of banners with a Christian message. Public school high school cheerleaders had used their own money, made the banners off-campus, and unfurled the banners at football games.  The school district, concerned that the student-led Christian display was an Establishment Clause violation, had banned the cheerleaders from displaying the messages. The First Amendment prohibits the government from making any law “respecting an establishment of religion” and forbids the government from establishing an official religion and prohibits government favoring one religion over another.

Wednesday, a state district judge disagreed with the school district and held that the school could not prohibit such displays.  The school district will now have to appeal.

One legislator displayed his unhappiness with the Travis County District Attorney by criticizing one of its lead attorneys Rosemary Lehmberg who pled guilty to drunken driving in April and who is due for early release (serving less than your full sentence because of good behavior while incarcerated).   Rep. Phil King (R-Weatherford) called for District Attorney Lehmberg’s resignation and proposed HB 3153 to transfer the state’s public integrity unit (currently housed in the Travis County District Attorney’s office) to the Texas Attorney General’s office when the local District Attorney (like Lehmberg) is convicted of a crime.  King called it a “shot across the bow” to force Lehmberg to resign.

And speaking of cheap shots, the budget battle turned into a war of words when Rep. Sylvester Turner (D-Houston) went after Rep. Harvey Hilderbran (R-Kerrville) who authored HB 500—a bill giving $661 million in tax cuts to businesses including specific industries (e.g. insurance, hospitals, and oil and gas).

The two sparred over whether the tax cuts were at the expense of public education. Hildebran argued that strong business growth through tax incentives (reductions in taxes that businesses would have to otherwise pay) would fuel more taxes long-term into education. Turner challenged cutting the franchise tax because he favors restoring funding for over $5.4 billion in education cuts made last biennial session (two year legislative cycle).

At one point Turner accused Hildebran of not being truthful and questioned his competency by making a veiled reference to Hildebran’s public  statement that he is considering running for Comptroller of the Public Accounts (the chief of the state’s finances,  tax collections,  accounts, revenue estimations, and treasurer).

The quip caused the legislature to go to go unusually silent. Turner later apologized.

Governor Rick Perry is not apologizing for pushing hard to get HB 500 passed because it is a cornerstone of his legislative agenda this term.  He has threatened to call a special session (a short 30 day term called by the Governor to address specific issues) if legislators fail to pass “significant tax relief” this year.

Take that!

Doesn’t have a prayer?

The State Attorney General Greg Abbott has intervened at a Kountze ISD high school which caused a firestorm when the cheerleaders began unfurling banners at football games that had Biblical verses printed on them.  After the Freedom from Religion Foundation in Wisconsin threatened a lawsuit, the school ordered the cheerleaders to cease.  The Attorney General’s office then questioned whether the school was properly enforcing the separation of church and state which ensures that governments are not establishing or favoring religion.  While government cannot favor religion, it also cannot interfere with an individual’s free exercise rights—including that of religious speech (expressions about faith that are constitutionally protected).  The U.S. Supreme Court looked at a similar Texas case in Doe v. Santa Fe School District (2000) and struck down the reading of prayers at public high school football games because it had the effect of establishing religion. The High Court used the coercion test to question whether the readings coerced students into hearing religious messages.  Even though the prayer was student-initiated (led by students rather than the school authorities), the concern was that such prayers forced students whose attendance was mandatory (e.g. football players, the band, and cheerleaders) to receive religious messages they could not escape. A preliminary hearing will be held this week to determine whether the cheerleaders’ can continue.

And speaking of trying to escape, during the U.S. Senate primary elections (held by each party to nominate their party’s candidate for the November 6 elections), Ted Cruz hammered David Dewhurst about his unwillingness to schedule public debates.  Cruz went on to win the Republic primary nomination in a surprise upset, and he now faces Paul Sadler (the Democratic nominee) in the general election.  Only now Cruz is on the receiving end of criticism because he has agreed to only two debates, rather than the three which Sadler requested.  Such debates are important for Sadler because of his trailing public opinion polls, and the advantage Cruz has because the Senate race is considered a safe seat (where one candidate has an advantage because the voting population is dominated by the candidate’s party). It is unlikely Cruz will agree to more debates because typically candidates holding such an advantage have little incentive to do so.

Texas Round-Up

Today we begin doing summaries of the hottest topics in Texas politics, so you will want to check these out because they will appear on the current events quiz.

*The city of Austin long known for having left of center views passed legislation that supports endorses same-sex marriage.

*The U.S. Supreme Court will revisit the University of Texas’ affirmative action policy for admissions even though it seemed like the issue had been settled in 2003.