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POSSIBLE TOPICS: VOTETEXAS.GOV—Voter Information; REGISTER TO VOTE; APPLY FOR MAIL-IN BALLOT;  Harris County commissioners approve additional $25K homestead exemption; Sugar Land Police Department launches new team, increases trainings to tackle mental health crises; Harris County leaders respond to Legislature’s election bills with planned lawsuit; Lawyer currently leading Texas attorney general’s office has been swept up in Ken Paxton’s legal challenges; 6 Texas AG employees take leave of absence to defend Ken Paxton at impeachment trial; Texas lawmakers find consensus on bill banning diversity, equity and inclusion offices in public universities; 14th Amendment — Citizenship Rights, Equal Protection, Apportionment, Civil War Debt; More.

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1. Make sure you are registered to vote! VoteTexas.GOV – Texas Voter Information
   1. It’s time to snail-mail (no emails or faxes) in your application for mail-ballots, IF you qualify TEXAS SoS VOTE-BY-MAIL BALLOT APPLICATION (ALL TEXAS COUNTIES) HarrisVotes.com­ – Countywide Voting Centers, (Election Information Line (713) 755-6965), Harris County Clerk
   2. Obtain a Voter Registration Application (HarrisVotes.com)
   3. Harris County “Vote-By-Mail’ Application for 2022
      1. Austin County Elections
      2. Brazoria County (TX) Clerk Election Information
      3. Chambers County (TX) Elections
      4. Colorado County (TX) Elections
      5. Fort Bend County takes you to the proper link
      6. GalvestonVotes.org (Galveston County, TX)
      7. Harris County ((HarrisVotes.com)
      8. LibertyElections (Liberty County, TX)
      9. Montgomery County (TX) Elections
      10. Walker County Elections
      11. Waller County (TX) Elections
      12. Wharton County Elections
   4. For personalized, nonpartisan voter guides and information, Consider visiting Vote.ORG.   Ballotpedia.com and Texas League of Women Voters are also good places to get election info.
   5. If you are denied your right to vote any place at any time at any polling place for any reason, ask for (or demand) a provisional ballot rather than lose your vote.
   6. HarrisVotes.com – Countywide Voting Centers, HARRIS COUNTY – IDENTIFICATION REQUIRED FOR VOTING: Do not possess and cannot reasonably obtain one of these IDs?
      1. Fill out a declaration at the polls describing a reasonable impediment to obtaining it, and show a copy or original of one of the following supporting forms of ID:
      2. A government document that shows your name and an address, including your voter registration certificate
      3. Current utility bill
      4. Bank statement
      5. Government check
      6. Paycheck
      7. A certified domestic (from a U.S. state or territory) birth certificate or (b) a document confirming birth admissible in a court of law which establishes your identity (which may include a foreign birth document)
      8. You may vote early by-mail if:You are registered to vote and meet one of the following criteria:
         1. Away from the county of residence on Election Day and during the early voting period;
         2. Sick or disabled;
         3. 65 years of age or older on Election Day; or
         4. Confined in jail, but eligible to vote.
         5. Make sure you are registered:
         6. Ann Harris Bennett, Tax Assessor-Collector & Voter Registrar
         7. CHECK REGISTRATION STATUS HERE
         8. CLICK How to register to vote in Texas
         9. Outside Texas, try Vote.org.
2. BE REGISTERED TO VOTE, and if eligible, REMEMBER TO FILL OUT AND MAIL NEW MAIL-IN BALLOT APPLICATIONS FOR 2023.
   1. Obtain a Voter Registration Application (HarrisVotes.com)
   2. Just be registered and apply for your mail-in ballot if you may qualify.
   3. You can track your Mail Ballot Activity from our website with direct link provided here https://www.harrisvotes.com/Tracking
3. Harris County commissioners approve additional $25K homestead exemption; By Melissa Enaje | COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM | 4:46 PM May 19, 2023 CDT, Updated 10:24 AM May 22, 2023 CDT
   2. Harris County commissioners unanimously voted May 16 to increase the homestead exemption for seniors and disabled homeowners. The increase is applied to the appraised value of a resident’s homestead and will go into effect for the 2023 tax year for bills that go out in October, according to officials with Precinct 2.
   3. Those who are legally defined as disabled or for those age 65 or older could qualify for an additional $25,000 off the appraised value of their homes. According to Harris County Appraisal District documents, if you are over 65 and disabled, you may either receive the over 65-exemption or the disability homestead exemption, but not both. … The savings for qualified persons would average $130/year. …
   4. The Harris County Appraisal District defines a homestead as generally the house and land used as the homeowner’s principal residence Jan. 1 of the current tax year. …
   5. Reaching 65 years does not automatically exempt senior homeowners from paying property taxes, according to Harris County Appraisal District guidelines.
   6. Seniors who need to apply can obtain a homestead exemption form online at hcad.org under the “popular forms” tab.
   7. For more information or details on homestead exemption eligibility, click this document here.
   8. Or contact the Harris County Appraisal District, Monday-Friday 8 a.m.-5 p.m., at 713-957-7800.
   9. MIKE: The most important point in this story is that property owners must pro-actively claim any and all exemptions to which they are entitled. The County does not check to see if you should have them.
   10. MIKE: I was reminded of this when I recently got a jury summons. Technically, at my age, I’m not required to serve jury duty. A personal justification is that the last time I served, the walking around the court areas caused me considerable back pain, forcing me to sit on the floor at times. It was after my service date that it occurred to me that maybe I should call them to avoid a bench warrant rather than assume they remembered how old I was. They were very nice about it.
4. Sugar Land Police Department launches new team, increases trainings to tackle mental health crises; By Joe Edwards | COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM | 4:33 PM May 25, 2023 CDT, Updated 4:33 PM May 25, 2023 CDT
   1. The Sugar Land Police Department launched a new team and training initiative in early May focusing solely on responding to the rise in mental health emergency calls.
   2. The department’s new initiative will include a crisis intervention team with a focus on new curriculum for training officers on responding to mental health calls, said Brittany Moreno, an SLPD officer and the leader of the crisis intervention team. Moreno has more than 11 years of experience in the department with a specialization in mental health.
   3. The team will help train the department and implement safer techniques when responding to mental health crisis calls through a variety of newly introduced strategies.
   4. In addition to the intervention team, the department as a whole will focus on building relationships with the community and introducing these modern training techniques alongside mental health professionals, Moreno said. She said these implementations aim to create a safer environment for citizens and officers while reducing unwanted large medical bills for those who attend hospitals due to mental health issues. …
   5. In April, the SLPD responded to more than 10 calls related to mental health crises alone, according to a news release from the city of Sugar Land. …
   6. From July 2022 through early May 2023, [Moreno] counted more than 700 calls related to mental health issues.
   7. However, the growing number of mental health calls is also a national trend, and police departments have been forming crisis intervention teams, or CITs, to address this need since the 1980s, according to an October 2021 report published in Psychiatric Services, a journal of the American Psychiatric Association. The first CIT began in the late 1980s in Memphis in response to a police shooting of a Black man with mental illness, per the report.
   8. The report says 5%-15% of 911 emergency calls are for behavioral health emergencies. The CIT training model gives law enforcement the training to allow them to identify and de-escalate individuals who are in a mental health crisis, helping to divert the person into treatment, according to the report. …
   9. The response to these calls is where many of the difficulties lie for police officers, many of whom are the first responders on sight.
   10. “One of the things we recognize right off the bat is when we take someone to get help at a hospital ER or mental health facility, sometimes we were not understanding what the initial problem is,” Moreno said. “Also, the facilities are not always completely understanding the information we were asking for or why we were asking for it, so we hit roadblocks.”
   11. The SLPD will not necessarily hire new officers specifically for this crime intervention team to respond to these mental health calls, but it will train seasoned officers with at least two years of experience on the force more thoroughly with this specialized initiative, she said. …
   12. The new training will include 40-hour crisis interventions classes, de-escalation classes, first aid classes, mental health classes, traumatic brain injury classes, and other courses relative to brain behavior and drug addiction. …
   13. ANDREW: I don’t think police CITs are what Sugar Land needs. Police are trained to use violence and legal force to compel people to do things, and that doesn’t work in a mental health crisis. Instead, the situation escalates, increasing the chances that the police will get hurt or the person in crisis will be killed.
   14. ANDREW: Alternatively, the National Alliance on Mental Illness and other groups suggest establishing Mobile Crisis Teams. When someone reports a mental health crisis, these programs send a team of one trained mental health professional and one EMT who are not armed and have no ability to force anyone to do anything. This team listens to the person in crisis and talks to them to try to de-escalate things and, if needed, convince the person to come with them to get further medical or psychiatric help. Without the presence of force, these crises become a lot less dangerous for all involved. In the extremely rare event (according to one mobile crisis team director) that someone in crisis is actively dangerous, the MCT can call police.
   15. ANDREW: I think Mobile Crisis Teams are a much better solution to the problem of mental health crises than police training is. I would strongly recommend that Sugar Land establish an MCT program that can handle these calls as well as wellness checks and drug use incidents. Redirecting some of the police budget would probably pay for it, but if that’s not enough, other nearby cities or the county could join in. I encourage our listeners in Sugar Land to ask their city council to consider this.
   16. MIKE: I had similar thoughts when I read this piece, Andrew. If these Crisis Intervention Team programs and trainings have been going on since the 1980s, something here is obviously broke that this story doesn’t mention any plans to fix.
5. Harris County leaders respond to Legislature’s election bills with planned lawsuit; By Emily Lincke | COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM | 4:34 PM May 26, 2023 CDT, Updated 4:34 PM May 26, 2023 CDT
   1. The Harris County Attorney’s Office announced plans May 24 to sue the state over two election bills passed by the 88th Texas Legislature that would eliminate Harris County’s elections administrator
   2. What’s happening?: With a 81-62 vote, the Texas House passed Senate Bill 1750 on May 23, effectively eliminating Harris County’s election administrator system. With the passing of SB 1750, election responsibilities will be directed to the Harris County tax assessor-collector and the Harris County clerk.
   3. A second bill, SB 1933, which garnered a 81-51 vote, would allow the secretary of state’s office to oversee Harris County elections if an election complaint is filed.
   4. Those opposed: “We have not had a single court rule that a single voter was disenfranchised in Harris County,” Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said during a May 24 news conference. “Of course, the Legislature doesn’t care about the fact [that] they’re only targeting Harris County on this because they want to control who we elect. Nine out of the 10 largest counties in the state of Texas have an elections administrator, but they want to eliminate ours.”
   5. Those in favor: State Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, authored both SB 1750 and SB 1933.
   6. “The public’s trust in elections in Harris County must be restored after a continuing set of problems culminating [in] the fact that the current elections administrator couldn’t or wouldn’t get millions of sheets [of] ballot paper out of the warehouse to the polls for voters to vote on, and that’s real voter suppression,” Bettencourt said via a May 24 news release. “It cannot be tolerated in the nation’s third-largest county.”
   7. What’s next?: Harris County will take a dual approach to the bills, should they be signed into law by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee said May 24.
   8. The county will sue state officials over SB 1750 and SB 1933.
   9. County leaders will also prepare to transition the November election responsibilities to County Clerk [Teneshia] Hudspeth.
   10. ANDREW: I hope these lawsuits succeed, but with the balance (or should I say imbalance) of Texas courts, I’m not holding my breath. I wonder what reasoning Harris County is planning to build their case on. I remember seeing a suggestion that they argue that the bills are too specifically targeted at the county, but someone else said the bills are written vaguely enough that it’s too difficult to prove that argument. What do you think, Mike?
   11. MIKE: This lawsuit will not be a slam dunk. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 makes it illegal to discriminate against minorities in terms of voting rights, apportionment, etc., but it doesn’t make it illegal to discriminate against political parties. Arguably, this is what the Texas Republicans have done.
   12. MIKE: I’ve been ruminating a lot lately about the 14^th Amendment, and I wonder if it might apply here. We’ll look at this in more detail later in the show.
6. Lawyer currently leading Texas attorney general’s office has been swept up in Ken Paxton’s legal challenges; Brent Webster came to the Texas attorney general’s office in 2020. His work as Ken Paxton’s top aide was quickly mired in controversy. by Alexa Ura | TEXASTRIBUNE.ORG | May 29, 2023, 5 AM Central
   1. In the state’s extensive log of high-profile court fights — from immigration to voting to a failed effort to overturn the 2020 election — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s name on legal filings is always trailed by another: Brent Webster, first assistant attorney general.
   2. Following the Texas House’s Saturday vote to impeach Paxton, the attorney general’s second-in-command has temporarily become the state’s top lawyer.
   3. The stunning vote immediately suspended Paxton from his duties and elevated a relatively unknown attorney into the place of a popular statewide officeholder. Webster is now in charge of a sprawling agency that serves as both the state’s law firm, working on routine matters like child support enforcement, and as a legal juggernaut helping to advance the Republican Party’s priorities in the courts. Paxton’s deputy since 2020, the self-proclaimed “constitutional conservative” has indicated he doesn’t plan to stray from the attorney general’s approach to the job. …
   4. It’s unclear how long Webster will remain at the helm. State law puts him in charge if the attorney general is “absent or unable to act.” Gov. Greg Abbott can decide to appoint someone to temporarily fill the vacancy. Abbott is a former attorney general himself with deep ties in the conservative legal universe, but he’s so far been silent on Paxton’s impeachment.
   5. Webster’s tenure at the attorney general’s office began in October 2020 in the wake of the staffing shakeup that would ultimately lead to Paxton’s impeachment over allegations of misconduct, including bribery and abuse of office. …
   6. Webster took over for Jeff Mateer, a controversial figure in his own right, who resigned that month after reporting Paxton’s alleged criminal behavior to law enforcement agencies along with seven other top Paxton aides.
   7. His work with the attorney general quickly mired him in legal problems of his own.
   8. Webster faced a professional misconduct case brought by the State Bar of Texas for helping Paxton file a long-shot federal lawsuit seeking to overturn the 2020 election results in four battleground states that handed the White House to President Joe Biden.
   9. The misconduct lawsuit accused Webster of being “dishonest” for misrepresenting allegations of voting improprieties in the legal challenge, which was ultimately tossed by the U.S. Supreme Court. Paxton faced a similar lawsuit in Collin County. Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick both denounced the state bar’s initial investigation of Paxton.
   10. A judge initially dismissed the case against Webster last September. Paxton celebrated the ruling and condemned the claims against Webster as “utterly meritless.” The ruling has since been appealed.
   11. Webster also played a prominent role in a whistleblower lawsuit filed in 2020 by four former executives who claim they were fired from the attorney general’s office in retaliation for reporting their concerns about Paxton’s behavior to law enforcement.
   12. Webster, the lawsuit alleged, personally fired or participated in the firing of several of the whistleblowers and contributed to an atmosphere of harassment and intimidation directed against whistleblowers.
   13. The lawsuit recounted Webster’s first day as Paxton’s deputy on Oct. 5, 2020, beginning with his prompt move — “with great ceremony but without explanation” — to kick Blake Brickman out of a regularly scheduled 9 a.m. meeting with Paxton.
   14. Later that day, Webster ordered Brickman, the deputy attorney general for policy and strategic initiatives, to store his personal cellphone in his car, a “bush-league attempt at intimidation” that was not imposed on other employees, the lawsuit said.
   15. “In fact, Paxton himself carries multiple personal cell phones, including routinely cycling through ‘burner’ cell phones,” the lawsuit added.
   16. [House General Investigating Committee committee issued 20 articles of impeachment that the House overwhelmingly adopted Saturday in a 121-23 vote.]
   17. MIKE: There’s a lot more in this story about Paxton and his impeachment and about Webster. If you want to read it all you can go to ThinkwingRadio[dot]com and click on the story link.
   18. MIKE: I think an implication of this story is that corruption, abuse of power, and sweetheart deals have become so embedded in the Texas Republican Party that it will take a political earthquake to clean it up. It’s interesting that it took a $3 million settlement that Paxton wanted to pay with State funds to bring this to a head. With Republicans, it always seems to be about money.
   19. MIKE: But here is always the Rule Of Unintended Consequences. Whatever the origins of this fight, you can never tell what will be unleashed to everyone’s surprise. Or nothing. We’ll see.
   20. ANDREW: With any luck, the appeal of Webster’s misconduct case will be successful and he’ll get disbarred before he has the chance to do any further damage. If something like that keeps happening to interim AGs until the line of succession puts an independent in office, we might be okay for a little while.
7. 6 Texas AG employees take leave of absence to defend Ken Paxton at impeachment trial; The defense team includes the agency’s chief appellate lawyer and head of its general litigation division. by James Barragán and Patrick Svitek | TEXASTRIBUNE.ORG | May 30, 2023, 5:47 PM Central
   1. Six top officials and employees at the Texas attorney general’s office have taken a leave of absence to help defend suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton in his impeachment trial this summer. …
   2. Prior to Tuesday, it was unclear who would serve as Paxton’s lawyers in the impeachment trial before the Texas Senate.
   3. The embattled three-term Republican became Texas’ first statewide office holder to be impeached in more than 100 years on Saturday when the Texas House voted 121-23 to adopt 20 articles of impeachment. The articles, which included allegations of bribery, abuse of office and obstruction of justice, were presented Monday to the Senate.
   4. Most of the impeachment articles were tied to allegations that Paxton used his political office to benefit Austin real estate investor Nate Paul, his friend and political donor.
   5. Paxton and Paul have denied wrongdoing. … Permanent removal from office would require the support of two-thirds of the Senate, which includes Paxton’s wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, R-McKinney.
   6. ANDREW: They’re closing ranks. Disgusting, but not surprising. The risk is that if their defense doesn’t work and Paxton goes down, these six employees will have their names tied to his, and the public won’t want them to go back to their jobs. That won’t immediately remove any of them, of course, but whoever gets elected Attorney General next would face pressure to fire them.
   7. MIKE: What I found most interesting about this story is why Paxton isn’t just hiring 6 private sector lawyers as opposed to taking 6 attorneys out of the State’s AG department. And how is he paying for them?
8. Texas lawmakers find consensus on bill banning diversity, equity and inclusion offices in public universities; The bill now heads to Gov. Greg Abbott for approval. If it becomes law, Texas will become the second state in the country to ban DEI offices at public universities. Author: Kate McGee | TEXAS TRIBUNE via KHOU.COM | Published: 5:03 PM CDT May 28, 2023, Updated: 10:08 PM CDT May 28, 2023
   1. Texas public universities’ diversity, equity and inclusion offices likely have six months left before they’re banished.
   2. State lawmakers came to an agreement Saturday on legislation that would ban DEI offices, programs and training at publicly funded universities, largely adopting the version that the Texas House approved a week ago, with some minor changes.
   3. Notably, the conference committee of lawmakers appointed to hash out the differences between the two chambers’ versions of the bill removed the House provision that would ensure universities reassign DEI office employees to new positions with similar pay. Instead, universities may provide letters of recommendation for employees.
   4. Both chambers approved the final version of Senate Bill 17 Sunday and it now heads to Gov. Greg Abbott. If he signs the bill or allows it to become law without his signature, it will make Texas the second state in the country, after Florida, to ban such initiatives in public higher education.
   5. Before the House vote, Rep. Ron Reynolds, D-Missouri City, made a plea to members to vote against the legislation, pointing to the fact that the NAACP recently issued a travel advisory to Florida because of recent legislation, including a ban of DEI programs in higher education.
   6. “Don’t be on the wrong side of history,” Reynolds said. “Don’t let Texas be the next state to get a travel advisory. Don’t let the politics of extremism get in the way in the progress that we’ve made over the years.” …
   7. The final legislation says universities cannot create diversity offices, hire employees to conduct DEI work, or require any DEI training as a condition for being hired by or admitted to the university. All hiring practices must be “color-blind and sex-neutral.” The bill would also prohibit universities from asking job candidates to provide written answers about how they consider diversity in their work or sharing how they would work with diverse populations, commonly known as diversity statements. Critics have equated diversity statements with ideological oaths, while supporters say they help ensure job candidates are prepared to support students from all backgrounds. …
   8. Critics accuse DEI programs of pushing what they characterize as left-wing ideology onto students and faculty and say that these programs prioritize social justice over merit and achievement.
   9. Faculty have repeatedly warned lawmakers throughout the legislative session that if the bill passes, it might put state universities at risk of losing federal and private grants because they often require applicants to show how they are considering diversity and equity in their work. …
   10. The House added language that if a federal granting agency or accreditation agency requires DEI programs, a Texas university or employee can submit a statement that highlights the school’s work helping first-generation college students, low-income students or underserved student populations.
   11. Faculty and students from across the state have largely opposed the legislation since it was proposed, while university leaders have mostly been quiet about how the legislation might impact their schools.
   12. MIKE: And there’s more to this story, all of it either repugnant or about complaints about how repugnant the law is.
   13. ANDREW: I doubt that the rinky-dink statement that the law says universities “can” submit is going to be enough to satisfy most DEI requirements. And if it is, I wonder if updating those requirements to be more stringent might weaken this bill enough to overturn it. Unfortunately, that would also starve universities of funding, so it might not be the best tactic.
   14. MIKE: What I find most repellent in Republican legislation of this ilk is how gratuitously hateful it all is. These bills accomplish no serious legislative purpose. They do nothing to advance the freedom and prosperity of American citizens and legal residents. They are neither politically “conservative” nor are they Constitutionally literalist. (And if you don’t believe that, consider the 14^th Amendment, possibly the most underrated, overlooked, and unenforced Amendment to the Constitution.) All that these bills do is scratch a hateful, soul-crushing itch among extremists of the Republican Party.
9. REFERENCE: 14th Amendment – Citizenship Rights, Equal Protection, Apportionment, Civil War Debt (Full Text) — CONSTITUTION CENTER.ORG
   1. Section 1: All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
   2. Section 2: Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice-President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.
   3. Section 3: No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
   4. Section 4: The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.
   5. Section 5: The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
   6. MIKE: On this page, there is also discussion of these individual clauses. This is one:
      1. REFERENCE: Interpretations & Debate – Read Interpretations of Equal Protection Clause
   7. MIKE: Theoretically, to my non-law-trained mind, the Equal Rights Amendment shouldn’t be necessary, since it appears redundant to the Equal Protection clause of the 14^th.
   8. MIKE: Interestingly, a category of discrimination that’s excluded — and may not have ever been contested in the context of the 14^th Amendment — is discrimination based on political inclination, such as gerrymandering or other laws targeted at a particular political group.
   9. MIKE: I’m not a lawyer, and maybe this has been tested in court, but it’s not included in the discussion here.
   10. MIKE: The catch in all this seems to be enforcement, and the 14^th has very little included about that. As we’re learning about the Supreme Court, rules regarding integrity, transparency, and conflicts of interest are all well and good, but without an enforcement regime — sometimes known as “teeth” — rules can be seen by some as meaningless.
       1. REFERENCE: Interpretations & Debate – Read Interpretations of Enforcement Clause
   11. MIKE: In this page’s discussion of the enforcement clause, nothing is as simple as it seems, as the matter of what the federal government has authority to enforce can, apparently, be interpreted more broadly or more narrowly, and these legal debates have been going on for almost 150 years.
   12. MIKE: To sum up a bit, IMHO, we should perhaps be seeing more cases about equality before the law, voting rights, punishment of States that violate the Amendment, etc., being tested directly — in whole or in part — against the 14^th
   13. ANDREW: The problem with tests performed in a court of law is that, as we’ve seen recently with Roe v Wade, all it takes to lose them is one slate of justices deciding to shake everything up. Ideally, such court tests would pave the way for new legislation.
   14. MIKE: But remember, that the Court has to have a case brought before them before they can overrule themselves.
10.  

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