Court Opinion

ID: 9654916
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 18:54:30.514037+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:13:14.679474
License: Public Domain

GONZALEZ, Justice,
concurring.
I join Justice Hecht’s opinion on rehearing but write separately to observe that Justices Mauzy and Doggett mis-character-ized the redistricting “mess” as a three-ring circus with federal judges “taming the legislative lion.” Dissenting Opinion at 757. With all due respect, the three-judge federal district court, like a 1000-pound gorilla, needed no excuse to do what it has done or what it may do in the future. Our prior opinions in this case did not open the “cage.” The cage was opened when Texas joined the Union.
The Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution provides that the Constitution and laws of the United States “shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby_” U.S. Const, art. VI, cl. 2. Therefore, anything we do or say is irrelevant as to whether the legislative plan or the “federal” plan ultimately will govern the upcoming elections. The outcome now rests with the United States Supreme Court. I hope that the Court, in the interest of comity and deference to the Legislature, will permit the upcoming elections to go forward under the plan adopted by the Texas Legislature in its recent special session.