Court Opinion

ID: 9683633
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 13:33:54.53593+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:49.272173
License: Public Domain

KEITH, Justice
(dissenting).
While I have difficulty in following the rationale of the majority in several areas, I confine my dissent to the disposition of the third point — the failure to equalize the peremptory challenges afforded the intervening grandparents, the father, and the mother, as required by the applicable statute.
In essence, the majority says that the Legislature engaged in an act of futility when it adopted the 1971 amendment to Art. 2094, V.A.C.S., quoted in the opinion. Or, stated differently, notwithstanding the legislative amendment, the rule announced in Shell Chemical Company v. Lamb, 493 S.W.2d 742 (Tex.1973), remains unchanged —only the barebones pleadings may be considered. I do not so narrowly construe the 1971 amendment. Believing that error has been shown in the allocation of the peremptory challenges under the rationale of Tamburello v. Welch, 392 S.W.2d 114, 117 (Tex.1965), I dissent from the affirmation of the judgment.