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Righting the Rule of Law: A series of articles on how TEXAS built a right wing legal machine
Part 1: In 1998, a legal revolution was quietly born in Texas. It would pull America’s courts rightward.https://www.texastribune.org/2023/07/31/texas-federal-courts-conservative-takeover-cornyn-abbott/
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Part 2: Texas backlash to Obama fueled conservative drive to reinterpret U.S. Constitution
https://www.texastribune.org/2023/07/31/texas-federal-courts-conservative-takeover-obama-paxton/
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Part 3: Under Trump, Texas’ foot soldiers became federal judges, securing a conservative stronghold in the courts
https://www.texastribune.org/2023/07/31/texas-federal-courts-conservative-takeover-trump/
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This was published about a couple of weeks ago now, and I've been procrastinating in posting it. The most captivating part of it to me is Part 2, outlining their backlash to Barack Obama.
In November 2008, almost 70 million people turned out to vote for the nation’s first Black president and their hope for once-in-a-generation political change.
Barack Obama, a young, former community organizer, promised he’d help more people afford health care, stop the pollution of the planet, expand pathways to legal citizenship and help families dig their way out of the worst recession in decades.
With congressional majorities at his back, it seemed Republicans in D.C. would be hard-pressed to stop Obama's liberal juggernaut. But 1,500 miles away, a group of conservative attorneys were loading the canons and pointing them north.
Over the previous eight years, the Texas Office of the Attorney General had transformed from a Democrat-led bureaucratic workhorse into a Republican war machine, peppering the federal courts with conservative cases and friend-of-the-court filings. Now, Greg Abbott, a man elected by 2.5 million people to be the top lawyer for one of fifty states, stepped up to do what his fellow conservatives in Washington could not: stop, or at least slow, Obama’s agenda.
During the Obama administration, Abbott's office, and especially its elite appellate unit, the Office of the Solicitor General, became a government in exile, a refuge for the Republican party’s brightest minds. Top-tier conservative attorneys came to Texas for the chance to gain courtroom experience, burnish their bonafides and strengthen their commitment to the cause.
They had plenty of opportunities. Under Abbott, Texas brought more than 30 lawsuits against the Obama administration in six years, including an average of one suit a month in 2010. Texas used the federal courts to try to stop the federal expansion of government subsidized health care; block protections for young people who entered the country illegally with their parents; guard businesses against environmental regulations intended to stave off climate change; and even extend the fishing season by two weeks.
Texas emerged as an almost co-equal party to the federal government, casting itself as the defender of state sovereignty, federalism and the U.S. Constitution, and quietly helping push the nation’s legal apparatus to the right.
Abbott defined his role quite simply: “I go into the office, I sue the federal government, and then I go home.”
Barack Obama, a young, former community organizer, promised he’d help more people afford health care, stop the pollution of the planet, expand pathways to legal citizenship and help families dig their way out of the worst recession in decades.
With congressional majorities at his back, it seemed Republicans in D.C. would be hard-pressed to stop Obama's liberal juggernaut. But 1,500 miles away, a group of conservative attorneys were loading the canons and pointing them north.
Over the previous eight years, the Texas Office of the Attorney General had transformed from a Democrat-led bureaucratic workhorse into a Republican war machine, peppering the federal courts with conservative cases and friend-of-the-court filings. Now, Greg Abbott, a man elected by 2.5 million people to be the top lawyer for one of fifty states, stepped up to do what his fellow conservatives in Washington could not: stop, or at least slow, Obama’s agenda.
During the Obama administration, Abbott's office, and especially its elite appellate unit, the Office of the Solicitor General, became a government in exile, a refuge for the Republican party’s brightest minds. Top-tier conservative attorneys came to Texas for the chance to gain courtroom experience, burnish their bonafides and strengthen their commitment to the cause.
They had plenty of opportunities. Under Abbott, Texas brought more than 30 lawsuits against the Obama administration in six years, including an average of one suit a month in 2010. Texas used the federal courts to try to stop the federal expansion of government subsidized health care; block protections for young people who entered the country illegally with their parents; guard businesses against environmental regulations intended to stave off climate change; and even extend the fishing season by two weeks.
Texas emerged as an almost co-equal party to the federal government, casting itself as the defender of state sovereignty, federalism and the U.S. Constitution, and quietly helping push the nation’s legal apparatus to the right.
Abbott defined his role quite simply: “I go into the office, I sue the federal government, and then I go home.”
