Good morning,

Here is the Texas Minute for Tuesday, January 9, 2024.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

GOP Challenger Attempts to Remove Texas Supreme Court Justice from Primary Ballot

• Texas Supreme Court Justice John Devine is considered by legal observers to be the court’s most consistently conservative member. While he is up for re-election this year, his challenger in the GOP primary is trying to have him removed from the ballot. Brandon Waltens has the story.

      

• Challenging Justice Devine is Brian Walker, who currently sits on the Fort Worth-based 2nd Court of Appeals. (Walker’s father is Scott Walker, a controversial member of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.)

       
• In order to qualify for a place on the ballot for the Texas Supreme Court, each candidate must obtain at least 50 signatures from each of the state’s 14 courts of appeals districts. Walker alleges that Devine did not receive enough signatures in the El Paso Court of Appeals District, also known as District 8.
       
• Walker wants the Texas Supreme Court to remove Devine’s name from the Republican primary ballot, as printing of ballots begins today.
        

• Devine compared the move by Walker to efforts by Democrats to remove former President Donald Trump from state ballots. “If they can’t do it fair and square in an election and let the people decide, then they’ll try to figure out another way without campaigning, without sharing their political philosophy or judicial philosophy with the public to make an honest decision based on merit, instead of trickery and sandbagging.”

Paxton Backs Trump in Ballot Appeal

• Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is part of a coalition of attorneys general supporting former President Donald Trump’s appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to appear on the Colorado ballot after he was removed last year. Will Biagini has the details.

         

• At issue is the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision to utilize the U.S. Constitution’s insurrection clause and the events of January 6, 2021, to disqualify Trump from serving as president. The insurrection clause bars a person who has sworn an oath to defend the Constitution and then engaged in insurrection from holding public office.  

      
• Paxton and the coalition of attorneys general note that to reach their decision, the Colorado Supreme Court created a definition of “insurrection” that was vague.
      
• The other states participating in the Supreme Court brief include Indiana, West Virginia, Alabama, Kentucky, Alaska, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Florida, Missouri, Georgia, Montana, Idaho, Nebraska, Iowa, New Hampshire, Kansas, North Dakota, Ohio, Wyoming, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, and Virginia.

Rogers Touts Fake Endorsements

• Embattled State Rep. Glenn Rogers (R-Graford) has been touting endorsements he did not receive. 
      
• Among the Republican officeholders purportedly throwing their support behind his campaign were U.S. Rep. Roger Williams (TX), State Sen. Drew Springer (Muenster), and State Rep. David Spiller (Jacksboro). 
   
• The problem? None of them have endorsed Rogers for re-election.
      
• After being questioned about the fake endorsements, Rogers' campaign took them off his website without comment.

School District Advises Students How to 'Switch' Genders

• According to a new report, the Dallas Independent School District has published a resource guide that advises children on how to change genders. Emily Medeiros explains the story that was first reported by the Dallas Express.
       
• Titled the “LGBTQ+ Resources for Dallas ISD & Surrounding Communities,” the DISD document recommends various “transgender” clinics, gives resources on how to socially, legally, and medically transition, and lists books for elementary students about gender-confused children.  A DISD spokeswoman said the document is only available to adults who request it.
       
• However, Dallas ISD also shared the document on its news site when talking about LGBT “pride month.” The taxpayer-funded newsletter said the resource guide “can be shared with parents, staff and students alike.”
        
• “Instead of focusing on teaching their students reading, writing, or mathematics, DISD uses their $1.9 billion dollar budget to indoctrinate children into an evil ideology.” – Brady Gray, Texas Family Project

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Quote-Unquote

"But where, says some, is the King of America? I'll tell you. Friend, he reigns above, and doth not make havoc of mankind like the Royal Brute of Britain."

– Thomas Paine​

Y'All Answered

A new report reveals that Texas A&M's deal with the Middle Eastern Kingdom of Qatar seems to undermine U.S. national security. Previously undisclosed funding flowing into Texas A&M has resulted in full Qatari ownership of more than 500 research projects, "some of which are in highly sensitive fields such as nuclear science, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, biotech robotics, and weapons development." The president of Texas A&M has denied Qatar has access to the school's nuclear research.

Yesterday, we asked readers if Gov. Greg Abbott should instruct the A&M regents to nullify the contract. More than 97 percent of readers want the contract nullified, compared to 2.3 percent who said the contract should be honored.

Here is a sampling of the responses

• “Nullifying the contract would be a start. What other Texas universities and colleges have these types of contracts with Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Chinese Communist Party?” – Mary Casper
      

• “I am hesitant to use the force of government to interfere with a contract that was lawfully enacted.  However, given the sensitive nature of things, it is not unreasonable to ask for a review of what things Qatar has access to as it pertains to national security.  Any severance of that contract should be based on facts and should show actual national security concerns as to why it should be broken.” – Randall Woodman
      

• “We are not obligated to honor treasonous agreements, whether legal or not.” – Glenda Piacenti
      

• “Like sheep to the slaughter go we.” – Rosslyn Blake
      

• “I am sure this contract has a termination clause for either party. Governor Abbott should instruct A&M to exercise this clause with immediate effect. No delay. This is urgent.” – Jeff Harrison
      

• “Considering the LEFT turn A&M has taken over the past several years, one would be justified in questioning motives and goals associated with this partnership.  In my humble opinion.” – D.R. Alarcon
      

• “At the least an outside audit should be conducted with the ISGAP article in mind, and then follow the trail.” – Allen Cain
       

• “It has always surprised me that Texas A&M would only have exactly ONE branch located outside the great state of Texas…and that it would be located in Qatar, of all places!” – Dana Krasinski
       

• “Our colleges and universities have lost their way and think they are above the law.” – Carroll Knight
       

• “Texas Universities are ignoring the law and doing all they can to finish the fundamental transformation of the United States.  We should end all taxpayer funding from all universities that continue these practices.” – Alan Higginbotham
       

• “If something is a security threat to the citizen city, town, state, or nation - why would it not be nullified?” – CJ Burrows
      

• “Why do we continue to fund things that lead to our destruction? Federal funds still flow to these anti-American training camps. Funds still pay lobbyists to work against the taxpayers. When are we going to learn?” – Steve Crevier
       

• “The greed shown by many private and public institutions with no regard to the security of this country is appalling. Texas Public Universities should have stringent oversight that prevents them from putting dollars before state and national security.” – Pamela Millisor
      

• “It would be nice if the Universities would work to help and support Americans in their research. The high price of education has dumbed down the students that they send the best research initiatives to foreign students to use said research against Americans. Shameful!” – Danny Thompson
      

• “It’s now well past time we defund the anti-American, pro-terrorist publicly funded universities in the state of Texas. If we do not take the hard line here, we will most assuredly suffer the consequences in the near future.” – Ken Bintliff
       

• “Oh, what a tangled web the so-called ‘higher institutions of learning’ weave. It’s no wonder these college kids have all sorts of idiotic ideas when colleges are in cahoots with governments such as Qatar, China, and who knows who else. Our public funding should be pulled from all of these communist breeding grounds.” – Eric Knutson
      

• “Texas universities should not be receiving money from any non-Texas entities, especially Middle Eastern countries, but also including Washington, DC.”  – Chris Breaux

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