{"id":6778,"date":"2017-06-02T16:50:10","date_gmt":"2017-06-02T16:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=6778"},"modified":"2017-06-02T16:50:10","modified_gmt":"2017-06-02T16:50:10","slug":"opponents-plan-court-challenges-for-many-new-texas-laws","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=6778","title":{"rendered":"Opponents Plan Court Challenges for Many New Texas Laws"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Texas<\/a>

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signs one of dozens of bills passed by the Texas Legislature this session. Opponents already have begun filing legal challenges to many of them. Photo: TexasGovermentOnline<\/p><\/div>\n

by Mark Richardson<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

AUSTIN, Texas \u2013<\/strong> The Republican-controlled Texas Legislature passed some of the nation\u2019s most conservative laws during the current session, but political analysts say the real battle may just be getting started.<\/p>\n

The session is scheduled to end this weekend, but when the gavel comes down, opponents of the myriad anti-abortion, anti-immigrant and religious-freedom measures passed by GOP lawmakers are vowing to continue to fight them in the courts.<\/p>\n

James Henson, director of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin, says when conservative lawmakers support such divisive issues, they are not necessarily representing a large majority of Texans.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe elected officials that are pushing this most strenuously are pushing it for a very narrow audience, and that is a group that can win them a Republican primary,\u201d he states. \u201cAnd so, in a state of 26 million, we\u2019re talking about an audience of 500,000 to 600,000 folks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Henson says because Republicans control both houses of the Legislature, and the governor\u2019s office, the state\u2019s outnumbered Democrats could do little more than sit back and watch.<\/p>\n

However, he says immigration rights, pro-choice and LGBTQ rights groups \u2013 among others \u2013 have begun filing legal challenges to the results of the GOP\u2019s hard-right agenda.<\/p>\n

Henson says several of the approved measures, including some abortion regulations and voter ID guidelines, were blocked by the courts in previous cases. But he says most GOP legislators aren\u2019t worried about whether the new laws will survive a legal challenge.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look at the cost-benefit analysis that most Republican officeholders are doing, when push comes to shove the risk of not voting for these things is greater than the risk that might attend voting for them and having them challenged in court,\u201d he points out.<\/p>\n

Henson says many Texas Republicans are supported by the state\u2019s Christian evangelicals, many of whom believe their rights have been ignored in the past.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmong the Republicans, if we ask, \u2018Who do you think is the most discriminated-against group in the state?\u2019 the number one response \u2013 40 percent \u2013 say Christians, compared to 17 percent who say Muslims and only 2 percent say women, 4 percent say Hispanics,\u201d he relates.<\/p>\n

The session ends at midnight Monday, although GOP leaders could call lawmakers back for a special session if they don\u2019t pass everything they\u2019ve been asked to approve.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Mark Richardson AUSTIN, Texas \u2013 The Republican-controlled Texas Legislature passed some of the nation\u2019s most conservative laws during the current session, but political analysts say the real battle may just be getting started. The session is scheduled to end this weekend, but when the gavel comes down, opponents of the myriad anti-abortion, anti-immigrant and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6779,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-state"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6778"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6778\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6780,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6778\/revisions\/6780"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}