1 / 18

The U.S. and Texas Constitutions

The U.S. and Texas Constitutions. Hall, April Barrett, Jennifer Barton, Jessica Degroot, Nicole Rutherford, Kimberly Tran, Toan Cagle , Stephen Carle , Krystene. Eakles , James Jones , Herbert Kauffman , Justin Lucas , Lajordan Nedelea , Traian Rangel , Juan. See Me.

landry
Download Presentation

The U.S. and Texas Constitutions

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. The U.S. and Texas Constitutions

  2. Hall, April Barrett, Jennifer Barton, Jessica Degroot, Nicole Rutherford, Kimberly Tran, Toan Cagle, Stephen Carle, Krystene Eakles, James Jones, Herbert Kauffman, Justin Lucas, Lajordan Nedelea, Traian Rangel, Juan See Me

  3. How Has the Constitution Endured? • The “little black dress” of government • Mostly “negative” rights, very few demands or obligations placed on government • Only the bare bones of the system, so there is room to adjust to changes • Change through • Evolving interpretation • Amendment

  4. Evolving Interpretation • Interpretation generally undertaken by courts • Interpretation evolves to fit new • Political realities (like recognizing right of privacy in context of abortion) • Technological and social developments (like extending 4th Amend. protection to computer files) • Interpretative change depends on the lack of specificity in language of constitution

  5. Amendment - Methods 1. Amendment Proposed 2/3 Vote of House and Senate Convention Demanded by 2/3 of State Legislatures or 2. Amendment Ratified 3/4 State Legislatures 3/4 State Ratifying Conventions or

  6. Amendment • Rarely used • Requires general consensus to pass House, Senate, and ¾ of states • Lawmakers recognize the dangers • What types of amendments have passed? • Bill of Rights • Expansions of electorate • Changes to election procedures and qualifications • Basic expansions or limits on government power

  7. What Doesn’t Get Added • “Social” legislation (like forbidding the burning of the flag, or allowing prayer in schools) • Why? • Harder to get a consensus • Not the sort of enduring sentiment that should be affixed in Constitution • Prohibition was the exception – didn’t work well

  8. A Note on the ERA • First introduced in 1923 • House, 1971; Senate, 1972; 7-year limit for ratification • 1978 – House/Senate extend deadline to June 30, 1982

  9. 35 States Ratified Before Deadline

  10. Why Did the ERA Die? • Concern for women in the military • Concern for loss of labor and family-law protections for women • Tangled with other issues • Abortion • Gay marriage

  11. Texas Constitution • Why a state constitution? • Similarities and differences between Texas and U.S. constitutions

  12. Why Do We Have State Constitutions? • Federal system – states still have power • States need to establish system of government • States can give more rights to their citizens than those granted by the U.S. Constitution

  13. Similarities Between U.S. and Texas Constitutions • Popular sovereignty • Three-branch separation of powers • Checks and balances • Federal system (central government and smaller regional governments) • Explicit limits on government power

  14. Some Big Differences • Value of liberty more heavily weighted in Texas system – more explicit limits on government power, more explicit reservations to the people • Greater fragmentation of power (eg. plural executive) • More specific / addresses social issues

  15. Over 85,000 words 432 amendments adopted since 1876 Recent Amendments Approx. 7400 words Compare w/ 27 total for U.S. Constitution Texas v. U.S. Constitution

  16. Texas v. U.S. Constitution

  17. Amendment Process • 2/3 vote in state house and senate • Explanation of amendments published twice in every newspaper (those recognized for state notices) • Approval by a majority of voters

  18. Why the Differences? • Homogeneity • Size • History

More Related