Happy Constitution Day!

This is the Texas Minute for Wednesday, September 17, 2025.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Paxton Probes Proxy Advisors for Advancing ‘Woke’ Agenda

• Attorney General Ken Paxton has launched an official investigation into proxy advisory giants Glass Lewis & Co. and Institutional Shareholder Services. As Sydnie Henry reports, the two firms control more than 95 percent of the global proxy advisory services market.
       
• The A.G. investigation is focusing on whether the firms have misled institutional investors and public companies by advocating for radical political agendas over sound financial principles. According to Paxton, both Glass Lewis and ISS have routinely advised shareholders to back initiatives focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), gender-based hiring quotas, and aggressive climate activist policies.
       
• Paxton argues this practice amounts to a dangerous intrusion of ideological considerations into the financial system, warning of the broad influence proxy advisors wield over the national economy.
      
• "My office has zero tolerance for these woke corporations smuggling radical, liberal ideology into the companies they advise and into the entirety of America’s financial system." – Ken Paxton

State Board of Education Approves New Method of History Instruction

• Members of the State Board of Education approved changes to how Texas history will be taught in K-8 social studies. As Addie Hovland reports, the new method takes a comprehensive view of teaching Texas and U.S. history chronologically, with lessons connecting back to previously-taught content.
        
• Under the new framework, kindergarten through second-grade students will learn the foundational stories that are important to both American and Texas history. Between third and seventh grade, students will receive in-depth instruction on Western civilization, U.S. history, and Texas history.
       
• During eighth grade, students will take two capstone courses combining everything taught in the previous eight years.
        
• The Texas Public Policy Foundation celebrated the new methodology, noting that it "ensures that our kids will learn the true story of freedom."

Judge Denies Democrats’ Attempt To Block Tarrant County’s Republican Redistricting

• A federal judge in Fort Worth has declined to block a new Tarrant County Commissioners Court map drawn to increase Republicans’ partisan advantage. As Erin Anderson reports, the judge concluded that Democrats are unlikely to succeed on the merits of any of their claims alleging racial discrimination.
       
• Democrats are appealing the decision.
   
• In June, Tarrant County’s Republican-majority commissioners court approved a redistricting plan designed to increase the party’s representation on the five-member governing body from 3-2 to 4-1 starting with the 2026 elections. Democrats are claiming the lines were racially gerrymandered.
      
• Tarrant County's commissioner districts had not been redrawn since 2011. Under a previous administration, the county declined to draw new precincts following the 2020 census.

Harris County Judge Will Not Seek Re-election

• Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo will not seek re-election in 2026. As Michael Wilson reports, tensions between Hidalgo and her fellow Democrats in county office have escalated in recent months—culminating in a censure, making her the first Harris County judge to face such a rebuke.
         
• There was already a crowded field to oppose Hidalgo, including two Democrat challengers and three Republican hopefuls.
      
• Brought on in part by Hidalgo's sloppy management and personal controversies, Democrats in Harris County are worried about their electoral advantage narrowing.

Feds Detain Fugitive at Border

• A fugitive wanted for indecency with a child by sexual contact was caught this week at the Eagle Pass Port of Entry as he sought to re-enter the country. Merlin Martinez, a 46-year-old U.S. citizen, was caught when biometric verification revealed two outstanding warrants.
       
• One warrant was from Bexar County for indecency with a child by sexual contact, and a second from Bandera County for possession of marijuana.

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Quote-Unquote

"Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."

– John Adams​

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