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**NOVEMBER 16, 2023**
On the Prospect website
Diversity of Experience on the Federal Bench
The White House nominates SEIU's longtime general counsel to a seat on
the Fourth Circuit. BY DAVID DAYEN
Chucking Self-Checkout
Human cashiers make a comeback in some grocery and retail stores. BY
GABRIELLE GURLEY
Texas Legislature Votes to Seize Immigration Authority From Feds
A major U.S. Supreme Court case could be on the horizon as the Lone Star
State takes international matters into its own hands. BY GUS BOVA
Meyerson on TAP
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**** Texas Republicans: Maniacs and
Megalomaniacs
The legislature already stopped cities from passing laws they don't
like; now they're claiming they can supersede federal law, too.
There is no position more powerful than that of a Republican state
legislator in Texas. Once elected, you can stop liberal cities from
enacting ordinances that protect workers. Once elected, you can override
the federal government's constitutional power to set immigration
policy. No other level of government matters to the current Republican
members of the legislature or, for that matter, to Republican Gov. Greg
Abbott, who is avidly endeavoring to amass more power than any governor
in American history.
As Gus Bova of the
**Texas Observer**reports
in an article the
**Prospect**co-published today, the Republican majority in the
legislature's lower house on Tuesday passed on a party-line vote and
sent to Abbott a bill-which Abbott had requested-that grants state
and local police and the state courts the power to enforce immigration
law. Under its terms, any noncitizen who enters Texas without legal
authorization is subject to arrest by local police and an immediate
court appearance in which he or she must choose between immediate
deportation or six months in jail. If the immigrant opts for the
six-month imprisonment, he or she will then be returned to the court and
given the same choice again.
There's just a small hitch with this bill about to become a law:
It's not constitutional. As recently as 2012, the Supreme Court ruled
that immigration policy and law is under the purview solely of the
federal government. Such niceties are of no matter, apparently, to Texas
Republicans.
After all, earlier this year they enacted a bill that enables them to
negate laws passed by those liberal cities-Houston, Austin, San
Antonio, Dallas, El Paso, and their ilk-that exceed the standards set
by the legislature in such matters as workplace safety and environmental
protections. Under the terms of this law, commonly referred to as the
"Death Star" statute, any business can haul a city into court if it
enforces one of its own ordinances, and be assured that it will be
exempted from having to comply with it.
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On August 30, a Texas judge struck down the Death Star law, but as her
ruling was immediately appealed by Ken Paxton, the state's Republican
attorney general (who in other matters appears to consider himself
immune from compliance with the state's criminal codes), it has
nonetheless gone into effect, pending, presumably, the ruling of higher
courts.
At the rate they're going, the next move from Abbott and the
Republican state senators and House members will be to abolish elections
for federal and local offices, since the only legitimate level of
government in Texas is the one that extreme-right Republicans control
(and can keep controlling through their gerrymandering): the state.
As Republicans nationally increasingly cling to power by subverting
majority rule, their Texan comrades have come up with a whole new way to
suppress majorities: stripping power from any level of government they
don't control. Even as you read this, foreheads are likely being
smacked at the Republican National Committee:
**Why didn't we think of this?!**
~ HAROLD MEYERSON
Follow Harold Meyerson on Twitter
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