Good morning, 

Lots of chatter about conservatives leaving the GOP. That’s the subject of our One Click Survey.

But first, here is today’s Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Wednesday, January 27, 2021
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• Calling them “unlawful” and “perilous,” a federal judge in Texas has halted President Joe Biden’s plans to stop deportations, one of Biden’s first executive actions.
       
• The lawsuit was led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who argued that Biden had failed to provide any concrete, reasonable justification for a 100-day pause on deportations. Jacob Asmussen has the details. 
     
• “Texas is the FIRST state in the nation to bring a lawsuit against the Biden Admin. AND WE WON. Within 6 days of Biden’s inauguration, Texas has HALTED his illegal deportation freeze.” – Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton

• Texas’ U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn have both condemned the new impeachment proceedings against former President Donald Trump, with both calling the proceedings “vindictive.” Joshua Pierce has the details.
   
• Sen. Cornyn has said he will “reserve judgment” until the case is presented but noted the proceedings are “unprecedented,” as “there is no constitutional provision permitting the impeachment for the sole purpose of removing them from running for office in the future, somebody who is no longer president, who is a private citizen.”
      
• For his part, Sen. Cruz has referred to the proceedings as “vindictive and punitive,” stating that “congressional Democrats seem obsessed with their hatred for Donald Trump” and “they need to put their partisan hatred aside.” 

• Legislation filed yesterday in the Texas House would allow Texans to discuss, debate, and vote on Texas independence. Iris Poole reports House Bill 1359 was put forward by State Rep. Kyle Biedermann (R–Fredericksburg).
     
• Biedermann went on to say that the federal government continues to fail working-class families, seniors, taxpayers, veterans, and small-business owners and has eroded individual liberties for decades.
     
• “This act simply lets Texans vote. This decision is too big to be monopolized solely by the power brokers in our Capitol.” – State Rep. Kyle Biedermann
   
• Not everyone is impressed. State Rep. Jeff Leach (R–Allen) blasted the proposal as a “wheels-off, nutty proposal” and the “most anti-American bill” he had seen in his time in the Legislature.

• Speaking of Rep. Leach, he and State Sen. Kelly Hancock (R–North Richland Hills) have filed companion measures proposing a constitutional amendment that would prohibit state and local government officials from banning or limiting “religious services.” Robert Montoya has the details of what Leach and Hancock call the Texas Essential Church Act.
     
• Last year, Fort Worth, Dallas County, and Tarrant County were among the local governments that issued in-person worship bans as part of their response to the Chinese coronavirus. Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton reacted by issuing guidelines to strictly forbid local governments from banning in-person worship.
   
• “Religious liberty and the freedom ‘peaceably to assemble’ are concepts so fundamental to the foundations of our nation that they are explicitly, indelibly, enshrined in the Bill of Rights. Texas will continue to protect and defend those rights, no matter the circumstances.” – State Sen. Kelly Hankcock
      
• Not everyone agrees this is necessary.
      
• “This feels a lot like virtue signaling to me,” wrote Fran Rhodes of the True Texas Project. “We have the right from God to worship and the guarantee that the government will not interfere with worship in the U.S. Constitution and the Texas Constitution, so why do we need an amendment to say the same thing?”

• The 87th Legislative Session may have just started, but a plethora of cannabis-related proposals have already been filed. With the exception of a bill to require welfare applicants to pass a marijuana drug test, everything filed thus far would loosen the state’s restrictions on the controversial substance.
     
• Michael Swirsky examines Democrats’ legislative push for “medical marijuana” – and what might be next.

• The Austin City Council is set to consider purchasing two properties at a cost of more than $16 million, to use as homeless shelters. Adam Cahn reports this is in addition to the $8 million spent by the city in 2019 to buy hotel properties providing housing for 81 homeless people.
   
• Austin’s hotel proposal mirrors a policy by New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio, which begat national derision, as well as similar failed projects in Los Angeles and San Francisco. It’s unclear why Austin’s Democrat city officials expect different results in Texas’ capital.

ONE CLICK SURVEY

There has been growing talk recently about the possible formation of a third party (maybe aligned with former President Trump) to compete against the swamp-dwelling establishmentarians in the GOP. 

Would you join a new third party?