Showing posts with label Texas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Texas. Show all posts

Thursday, March 14, 2024

5th Circuit: Texas Statute Giving Parents Right to Consent to Teens' Contraceptives Is Consistent with Title X

 In Deanda v. Becerra, (5th Cir., March 12, 2024), the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals held that a Texas statute giving parents the right to consent to their teenagers' receiving contraceptives is consistent with Title X of the federal Public Health Service Act under which clinics are given grants to distribute contraceptives and other family planning services. HHS had given informal guidance to grantees that they could not require parental consent or notify parents before prescribing contraceptives to minors. The court's opinion describes the lawsuit:

In 2020, Alexander Deanda filed a federal lawsuit challenging the Secretary’s administration of the Title X program. He alleged that he is the father of three minor daughters1; that he is raising his daughters according to his Christian beliefs to abstain from pre-marital sex; and that he wants to be informed if any of his children access or try to access contraceptives. He further alleged that Texas law gives him a right to consent before his children obtain contraceptives. See Tex. Fam. Code § 151.001(a)(6); § 102.003(a)(1). Finally, he alleged that the Secretary administers Title X unlawfully by funding grantees who provide contraceptives to minors without notifying parents or obtaining parental consent. Accordingly, Deanda sought declaratory and injunctive relief on behalf of himself and a putative class, claiming that the Title X program violates (and does not preempt) Texas law and that it violates his constitutional right to direct his children’s upbringing as well as his rights under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (“RFRA”).

The court concluded that Title X and the Texas statute reinforce each other because Title X calls for grantees to encourage family participation to the extent practicable.  The court however reversed the trial court's invalidation of a formal HHS Rule promulgated in 2021 forbidding grantees from notifying parents or requiring parental consent because the Rule was adopted after this lawsuit was filed and was not specifically challenged by the lawsuit. 

Houston Chronicle reports on the decision.

Friday, March 01, 2024

LGBTQ+ Support Group Fights Texas AG's Demand for Information

Suit was filed this week in a Texas state trial court by PFLAG, a national support group for LGBTQ+ individuals and their families, seeking to set aside civil investigative demands from the Texas Attorney General's Office. PFLAG contends that the demands from the AG's Office indicate that the Attorney General is seeking to identify Texas families that are seeking gender-affirming care for their transgender adolescents. The investigative demands were issued under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act.  The petition (full text) in PFLAG, Inc. v. Office of the Attorney General of the State of Texas, (TX Dist. Ct., filed 2/28/2024), alleges in part:

The goal of the OAG in serving these Demands is neither to enforce Texas law, nor to protect Texas consumers under the DTPA. These Demands are a clear and unmistakable overreach by the OAG in retaliation for PFLAG successfully standing up for its members, who include Texas transgender youth and their families, against the OAG’s, the Attorney General’s, and the State of Texas’s relentless campaign to persecute Texas trans youth and their loving parents. While that retaliation is itself a reason to set aside the Demands, PFLAG is entitled to a temporary restraining order and temporary and permanent injunctive relief because the Demands violate PFLAG and its members’ rights to freedom of petition, speech and assembly and to be free from unjustified searches and seizures, are contrary to the OAG’s authority under the DTPA, and impermissibly seek to evade the protections afforded to PFLAG as a civil litigant. 

In 2022, PFLAG successfully obtained temporary injunctive relief shielding its member families from the Texas Department of Family Protective Services’ (“DFPS”) operationalization of Governor Greg Abbott’s directive to investigate families of transgender youth who receive gender-affirming medical care for the treatment of gender dysphoria—a directive based on the Attorney General’s non-binding opinion claiming that necessary, evidence-based gender affirming medical treatment for transgender youth is per se “child abuse” under Texas law....  And in 2023, PFLAG successfully obtained a temporary injunction at the district court enjoining enforcement of Senate Bill 14 ... which seeks to prohibit the provision and state funding of gender-affirming medical care for the treatment of gender dysphoria of transgender adolescents.....

Through the OAG’s own actions, discovery has been stayed in both [cases].... But through these Demands, the OAG seeks to circumvent the normal discovery process along with its attendant protections, and in so doing, seeks to chill the ability of PFLAG and its members to exercise their free speech and associational rights and avail themselves of the courts when their constitutional rights are threatened.

ACLU issued a press release announcing the filing of the lawsuit. AP reports on the lawsuit.

Monday, February 26, 2024

Civil Conspiracy Claims Against Religious Organization Survive 1st Amendment Defenses

In re Gothard, (TX App., Feb. 22, 2024), is a mandamus action that is essentially an appeal of a trial court's refusal to dismiss civil conspiracy claims against Institute in Basic Life Principles and its founder, William Gothard. Plaintiffs claimed that ILBP is a cult that "teachers distorted and heretical Christian doctrines" that led to their sexual abuse by their father and brother. The Texas state appellate court rejected Relators', i.e. defendants', First Amendment defenses, saying in part:

Gothard maintains that religious teachings and the publication thereof are constitutionally protected.  IBLP contends the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine bars RPIs’ cause of action. It argues that the “alleged religiously motivated conduct of IBLP is the advocacy and publication of religious beliefs.”  According to Relators, if RPIs’ claim is considered valid, any religious leader who speaks on religious topics and publishes his beliefs could be subject to a civil cause of action if a listener or reader improperly applies those beliefs in sexually abusing another person or committing some other unlawful act. ...

But the First Amendment does not bar all claims against religious bodies.,,,  A court may exercise jurisdiction over a controversy if it can apply neutral principles of law that will not require inquiry into religious doctrine, interference with the free-exercise rights of believers, or meddling in church government....

The relevant question is whether it appears certain that resolution of [plaintiffs']’ claims will require the trial court to address purely ecclesiastical questions.... IBLP represents that its teachings and materials are based on scriptures from the Bible, none of which “advocate sexual abuse or any other form of sexual immorality.”  Accordingly, by its own admission, IBLP’s teachings and materials do not advocate sexual abuse and consequently, the intentional tort of sexual assault that underlies the civil conspiracy claim is not rooted in religious belief.  ....

Because sexual assault is not part of Relators’ belief system, we cannot definitively say, based on the record before us, that this is a situation in which religious beliefs are so intertwined with a tort claim so as to unconstitutionally burden Relators’ rights and embroil the court in an assessment of those religious beliefs.

Thursday, February 22, 2024

Texas AG Seeks to Liquidate Catholic Agency Providing Services to Migrants

 A legal battle is underway between Annunciation House, a Catholic agency serving migrants and refugees in El Paso, and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton who accuses the agency of sheltering migrants who have entered the country illegally. On Feb. 7, Paxton demanded that Annunciation House turn over various records within one day. The next day, Annunciation House filed suit in a Texas state trial court seeking a declaratory judgment and temporary restraining order. The complaint (full text- Scroll to Exhibit 6) in Annunciation House, Inc. v. Paxton, (TX Dist. Ct., filed 2/8/2024), in part asks the court to determine:

whether Defendants’ unexplained demand for sensitive information infringes on AHI’s constitutional rights, including religious liberty, association, and equal protection, and the privacy rights of third parties, including their sensitive medical, legal, and personal information.

The same day, the court issued a TRO (full text, scroll to Exhibit 7) temporarily barring the Attorney General's office from enforcing its Request to Examine Annunciation House's records. On Feb. 20, the Attorney General filed a counter claim (full text), seeking, as a sanction for failing to produce the requested documents, to bar Annunciation House from transacting business in Texas and asking for appointment of a receiver to wind up Annunciation House's affairs. In a press release announcing the filling, the Attorney General's office said in part:

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued Annunciation House, a nongovernmental organization (“NGO”), to revoke their registration to operate in Texas. The Office of the Attorney General (“OAG”) reviewed significant public record information strongly suggesting Annunciation House is engaged in legal violations such as facilitating illegal entry to the United States, alien harboring, human smuggling, and operating a stash house....

The chaos at the southern border has created an environment where NGOs, funded with taxpayer money from the Biden Administration, facilitate astonishing horrors including human smuggling....

In a Feb. 21 press release, Annunciation House responded, saying in part:

The AG has now made explicit that its real goal is not records but to shut down the organization. It has stated that it considers it a crime for a Catholic organization to provide shelter to refugees.

The Attorney General’s illegal, immoral and anti-faith position to shut down Annunciation House is unfounded. Annunciation House has provided hospitality to hundreds of thousands of refugees for over forty-six years. It is a work recognized by the Catholic Church and is listed in the National Catholic Directory. Annunciation House has done this work of accompaniment out of the scriptural and Gospel mandate to welcome the stranger. Annunciation House’s response to the stranger is no different from that of the schools who enroll children of refugees, the clinics and hospitals who care for the needs of refugees, and the churches, synagogues, and mosques who welcome families to join in worship.

Texas Tribune reports on the litigation.

Wednesday, January 03, 2024

5th Circuit: EMTALA Does Not Require Emergency Abortions

In State of Texas v. Becerra, (5th Cir., Jan. 2, 2024), the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed an injunction issued by a Texas federal district court barring enforcement of a Guidance document on emergency abortion care issued by the Department of Health and Human Services. (See prior posting.) The Department of Health and Human Services' Guidance to hospitals (and accompanying Letter) stated that the federal Emergency Medical Treatment & Labor Act (EMTALA) requires hospital emergency rooms to perform certain abortions, even when they violate Texas law, when an abortion is the stabilizing treatment necessary to resolve an emergency medical condition. The 5th Circuit said in part:

While EMTALA directs physicians to stabilize patients once an emergency medical condition has been diagnosed, ..., the practice of medicine is to be governed by the states. HHS' argument that "any" type of treatment should be provided is outside EMTALA's purview....

 ... EMTALA requires hospitals to stabilize both the pregnant woman and her unborn child....

... EMTALA leaves the balancing of stabilization to doctors, who must comply with state law.... We agree with the district court that EMTALA does not provide an unqualified right for the pregnant mother to abort her child especially when EMTALA imposes equal stabilization obligations....

Texas Tribune reports on the decision.

Tuesday, December 12, 2023

Texas Supreme Court Reverses Trial Court Order That Allowed an Abortion

 In In re State of Texas, (TX Sup. Ct., Dec. 11, 2023), the Texas Supreme Court directed a trial court to vacate a temporary restraining order that it issued on Dec. 7. The trial court's order (see prior posting) allowed plaintiff Kate Cox who is carrying a fetus diagnosed with a fatal chromosomal condition to obtain an abortion. The Supreme Court said in part:

In this case, the pleadings state that Ms. Cox’s doctor—Dr. Damla Karsan—believes Ms. Cox qualifies for an abortion based on the medical-necessity exception. But when she sued seeking a court’s pre-authorization, Dr. Karsan did not assert that Ms. Cox has a “life-threatening physical condition” or that, in Dr. Karsan’s reasonable medical judgment, an abortion is necessary because Ms. Cox has the type of condition the exception requires.... 

A woman who meets the medical-necessity exception need not seek a court order to obtain an abortion. Under the law, it is a doctor who must decide that a woman is suffering from a life-threatening condition during a pregnancy, raising the necessity for an abortion to save her life or to prevent impairment of a major bodily function. The law leaves to physicians—not judges—both the discretion and the responsibility to exercise their reasonable medical judgment, given the unique facts and circumstances of each patient....

Dr. Karsan asserted that she has a “good faith belief” that Ms. Cox meets the exception’s requirements. Certainly, a doctor cannot exercise “reasonable medical judgment” if she does not hold her judgment in good faith. But the statute requires that judgment be a “reasonable medical” judgment, and Dr. Karsan has not asserted that her “good faith belief” about Ms. Cox’s condition meets that standard. Judges do not have the authority to expand the statutory exception to reach abortions that do not fall within its text under the guise of interpreting it.

Meanwhile, the Center for Reproductive Rights announced that Ms. Cox has left Texas in order to get health care elsewhere. CNN reports on the Texas Supreme Court's decision.

Friday, December 08, 2023

Texas Court Issues TRO Permitting an Abortion; Texas AG Responds

 A Texas state trial court yesterday issued a Temporary Restraining Order prohibiting the Texas Attorney General and the state Medical Board from enforcing Texas' abortion ban against plaintiff physician and her staff for performing a D&E abortion for plaintiff Kate Cox who is carrying a fetus diagnosed with a chromosomal condition that will result in its death before birth or at most in a few days after birth. The court in Cox v. State of Texas, (TX Dist. Ct., Dec. 7, 2023), said in part:

The longer Ms. Cox stays pregnant, the greater the risks to her life. Ms. Cox has already been to three emergency rooms with severe cramping, diarrhea, and leaking unidentifiable fluid.... If she is forced to carry this pregnancy to term, she will likely need a third C-section ... [which would] make it less likely that Ms. Cox would be able to carry another child in the future.

Dr. Karsan has met Ms. Cox, reviewed her medical records, and believes in good faith, exercising her best medical judgment, that a D&E abortion is medically recommended for Ms. Cox and that the medical exception to Texas' abortion bans and laws permits an abortion in Ms. Cox's circumstances. Dr. Karsan, however, cannot risk liability under Texas's abortion bans and laws for providing Ms. Cox's abortion absent intervention from the Court confirming that doing so will not jeopardize Dr. Karsan's medical license, finances and personal liberty.

Responding to the decision, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a press release:

The Temporary Restraining Order (“TRO”) granted by the Travis County district judge purporting to allow an abortion to proceed will not insulate hospitals, doctors, or anyone else, from civil and criminal liability for violating Texas’ abortion laws. This includes first degree felony prosecutions.... and civil penalties of not less than $100,000 for each violation.... And, while the TRO purports to temporarily enjoin actions brought by the OAG and TMB against Dr. Karsan and her staff, it does not enjoin actions brought by private citizens.... Nor does it prohibit a district or county attorney from enforcing Texas’ pre-Roe abortion laws against Dr. Karsan or anyone else. The TRO will expire long before the statute of limitations for violating Texas’ abortion laws expires.

He also sent a letter (full text) to three hospitals-- which were not parties to the case-- warning that they may be liable for negligently credentialing the physician and failing to exercise appropriate medical judgment if they permit the abortion to be performed in their facility.  Austin-American Statesman reports on the decision.

UPDATE: On Dec. 8, the Texas Supreme Court administratively stayed the trial court's order while it considers the case on appeal.

Friday, November 17, 2023

Church Sues Challenging Fee for Water Connection

Suit was filed this week in a Texas state trial court by a church challenging a Houston-area utility district's insistence that the church pay a capital recovery fee of $83,780 rather than the actual cost of $24,900 to connect its new office building and auditorium to the district's water system. The district insists that the added fee "prevents taxpayers from bearing the burden of paying taxes on the bonds issued to construct water, sewer, and drainage facilities that also serve the Church." The complaint (full text) in Grace Community Church- The Woodlands, Inc. v. Southern Montgomery County Municipal Utility District, (TX Dist. Ct., filed 11/15/2023), alleges that the fee in excess of the actual cost of the connection amounts to an unlawful tax on a tax-exempt organization.  It also contends that the fee violates the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the First Amendment's free exercise clause. First Liberty issued a press release announcing the filing of the lawsuit.

Friday, November 10, 2023

Pastor's Breach of Contract Suit Dismissed on Ecclesiastical Abstention Grounds

In Craver v. Faith Lutheran Church, (TX App., Nov. 8, 2023), a Texas state appeals court held that the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine requires dismissal of a pastor's suit for breach of contract and fraudulent inducement brought against the church that was his former employer. After the church's executive board received complaints against the pastor, the church entered a severance agreement with the pastor. The pastor contends that the agreement included an assurance that the allegations against him would not be spread throughout the congregation. The court said in part:

Craver argues his case presents a “run-of-the mill” civil dispute, which can be resolved by application of neutral principles of law and without reference to religious matters. He contends: “While Faith Lutheran’s decision to terminate [him] is generally unreviewable, [his] claims have nothing to do with that and are instead about Faith Lutheran’s obligations under a secular, civil contract not to make certain statements.”

We disagree that church matters can be so cleanly and completely severed. Instead, the substance and nature of Craver’s fraudulent inducement and breach of contract claims are “inextricably intertwined” with matters of Faith Lutheran’s church governance.... [B]oth claims rely on circumstances surrounding contract formation and it is those circumstances which implicate the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine...

[W]e cannot untwine recommendations Church executives made in the course of church governance from the allegedly fraudulent representations that form the basis of Craver’s lawsuit.

Thursday, October 26, 2023

Texas Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments from JP Sanctioned for Refusing to Perform Same-Sex Weddings

The Texas Supreme Court yesterday heard oral arguments (video of full oral arguments) in Hensley v. State Commission on Judicial Conduct, (TX Sup. Ct., Oct. 25, 2023). (Briefs filed in the case.) In the case, the state Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of a suit challenging a public warning issued by the Commission on Judicial Conduct that concluded plaintiff, a justice of the peace, had cast doubt on her ability to act impartially toward LGBTQ litigants. Plaintiff refused to perform same-sex weddings, while continuing to perform weddings for heterosexual couples. She contended that the Commission on Judicial Conduct violated her rights under the Texas Religious Freedom Act. (See prior posting.)  The appeals court held that the suit was an impermissible collateral attack on the Commission's order. Texas Tribune reports on the oral arguments.

Friday, October 13, 2023

Court Gives Limited Relief to Native Americans Who Object to Park Improvements Project

 In Perez v. City of San Antonio, (WD TX, Oct. 11, 2023), a Texas federal district court held that members of the Native American Church should be given access for religious services to a point on the San Antonio River which is a Sacred Site for them.  Access is limited to 15 to 20 people for no more than an hour on astronomical dates that coincide with their spiritual beliefs.  The court deferred ruling on whether access for all-night peyote ceremonies will be allowed. The court refused to grant plaintiffs' request that the proposed improvements to the park in which the Sacred Site is located be limited so that the spiritual ecology of the Sacred Area would be preserved by minimizing tree removal and allowing cormorants to nest. The court said in part:

The most important part of Plaintiffs’ spiritual ecology is the confluence of the shape of the Mother Waters at the bend of the San Antonio River with the shape of the Eridanus constellation of stars.

Given the current extended drought, the lack of water flow from the Blue Hole Springs and other natural sources, there would be no San Antonio River/Mother Waters but for the City artificially assisting the river by pumping recycled waste water, presumably from the sewer reclamation system.... This creates something of a secular/religious symbiotic relationship between Plaintiffs and Defendant until it rains, the springs come to life and until the reformation and resurrection of the Project Area is complete. Amen.

... [T]he Court heard credible testimony of thousands of egrets, herons, and cormorants and their excrement nesting in the Project Area during their migrations at different times of the year. Once nested, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act precludes removal. The Court finds the bird deterrent operation is in the realm of public health and safety....

... [T]he Court finds the City has met its burden of proving a compelling government interest for public health and safety....

Moreover, Plaintiffs desire possibly to save trees by ordering the City to “reevaluate the Bond Project to develop alternative plans” would, given the lengthy redesign and re-permitting processes, exponentially extend Plaintiffs’ and the public’s presently fettered ability to enjoy the area. The temporary closing becomes semi-permanent. Instead of months, access would likely remain limited for years, as is the case of the faithful who find the Notre Dame Cathedral to be their sacred place and who for several years will have to use alternative places of worship. By its Order, it is the Court’s intent to make the fettered unfettered as soon as reasonably possible. It will be up to the parties to decide how long they wish to delay the unfettered with continuing litigation.

UPDATE: On Oct. 25, 2023, the Texas federal district court denied plaintiffs' emergency motion for an injunction pending appeal. 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 192796.

 

Sunday, October 01, 2023

Texas AG Sues Yelp for $1M for Mislabeling Pregnancy Resource Centers

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton last week filed a civil lawsuit against Yelp contending that it violated the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices- Consumer Protection Act by posting a "consumer notice" on the Yelp listings of anti-abortion Crisis Pregnancy Centers. The complaint (full text) in State of Texas v. Yelp, Inc., (TX Dist. Ct., filed 9/28/2023), alleges in part:

Yelp has engaged in deceptive trade practices, including disparagement of the goods, services, or business of another by false or misleading representation of facts.... Specifically, Yelp posted a “consumer notice” on the Yelp business pages of every pregnancy resource center across the nation, misleadingly stating that these centers “typically provide limited medical services and may not have licensed medical professionals onsite.” That was false. Pregnancy resource centers provide significant care and counseling to pregnant women. And they commonly provide significant medical services, and have licensed medical professionals onsite....

In or around February 2023, after approximately six months of displaying false and misleading disclaimers on the business pages of pregnancy resource centers, Yelp finally removed the misleading disclaimer regarding the alleged lack of medical professionals and medical services onsite, replacing it with a new disclaimer that stated: “This is a Crisis Pregnancy Center. Crisis Pregnancy Centers do not offer abortions or referrals to abortion providers.”

In addition to injunctive relief, the suit asks for civil penalties, attorneys' fees, restitution and costs that total at least $1 million. Paxton's office issued a press release announcing the filing of the lawsuit. [Thanks to Scott Mange for the lead.]

Saturday, September 02, 2023

Court Refuses Stay Pending Appeal of Order That Attorneys Get Religious-Liberty Training

As previously reported, last month a Texas federal district court ordered sanctions against Southwest Airlines for its failing to comply with an earlier Order in the case that found the Airline had violated Title VII when it fired a flight attendant because of her social media messages about her religiously-motivated views on abortion. Southwest then filed a motion to stay the sanctions while the case is appealed. In Carter v. Transport Workers Union of America, Local 556, (ND TX, Aug. 31, 2023), the court denied the motion to stay the sanctions. Among other things, Southwest objected to the court's requirement that three of the Airline's attorneys who were responsible for non-compliance with the earlier Order attend at least 8 hours of religious liberty training conducted by the Christian legal non-profit Alliance Defending Freedom. The court said in part:

... Southwest complains that “[r]equiring religious-liberty training from an ideological organization with a particular viewpoint on what the law requires” is “unprecedented.” That appears to be more of a gripe than a legal objection, because Southwest doesn’t make any legal argument for why training with an “ideological organization” is unconstitutional or otherwise contrary to law.

In any event, the Court selected ADF for the following reason: Southwest does not appear to understand how federal law operates to protect its employees’ religious liberties. ADF has won multiple Supreme Court cases in recent years on the topic of religious liberties, evidencing an understanding of religious liberties.  And because ADF has agreed to conduct topical trainings in the past, ADF appears well-suited to train Southwest’s lawyers on a topic with which the lawyers evidently struggle.

In a footnote, the court added:

This doesn’t appear to be a First Amendment argument, as Southwest doesn’t cite the First Amendment or any First Amendment caselaw, so it appears that Southwest forfeited any First Amendment arguments concerning ADF’s viewpoint.

LawDork reports on the decision.

Friday, September 01, 2023

Texas Supreme Court Allows Ban on Transgender Care for Minors to Go into Effect

The Texas Supreme Court yesterday in State of Texas v. Loe, (TX Sup. Ct., Aug. 31, 2023), issued an Order allowing SB 14 to go into effect.  The law prohibits treating minors for gender dysphoria with surgery, puberty blocker or hormones. According to an ACLU press release:

A Travis County District Court had granted a temporary injunction last week that blocked implementation of the ban, but the Texas Attorney General immediately appealed to the Texas Supreme Court, thereby staying the injunction. The Texas Supreme Court did not provide any written explanation for allowing the law to remain in effect.

Wednesday, August 30, 2023

Ecclesiastical Abstention Doctrine Does Not Apply to Church's Fraud Claims Against Former Pastor

 In New Bethel Baptist Church v. Taylor, (TX App., Aug. 29, 2023), a Texas state appellate court held that the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine does not prevent civil courts from adjudicating fraud, breach of fiduciary duty and conversion claims against its former pastor who also served as the general contractor on a church construction project.  Plaintiff claims that the pastor withdrew $300,000 from the church's bank account without authorization. The court concluded that the claims can be resolved using neutral principles of law. the court said in part:

... [T]he resolution of these causes of action does not depend on the interpretation of New Bethel’s bylaws and constitutions or other relevant provisions of governing documents. Indeed, this is an example of a civil law controversy in which a church official happens to be involved....

However, the court affirmed the dismissal of the suit because the attorney did not carry her burden of proof that she was authorized to represent the church. The court said in part:

... [R]egardless of how it is named or classified in the underlying suit, it is undisputed that there is only one church. Within this one church, there are two competing factions claiming control, i.e., the board of deacons and directors. With two competing factions claiming control of the church, attorney Robinson, as the challenged attorney, was either authorized to represent both entities, or she was not. In granting Taylor’s rule 12 motion to show authority, the trial court concluded that attorney Robinson failed to discharge her burden of proof to show her authority to act and nothing more.

Saturday, August 05, 2023

Trial Court Expands Exemptions in Texas Abortion Law; Appeal Suspends Ruling

In Zurawski v. State of Texas, (TX Dist. Ct., Aug. 4, 2023), a Texas state trial court issued a temporary injunction barring enforcement of Texas' abortion ban in more situations than the limited exceptions in the statute.  The court restrained enforcement against any physician who provides abortions where the pregnant person has a complication that poses a risk of infection or makes continuing a pregnancy unsafe, has a condition exacerbated by pregnancy that cannot be effectively treated during pregnancy or where the fetus is unlikely to survive the pregnancy.

The court said in part:

The Court further finds that any official’s enforcement of Texas’s abortion bans as applied to a pregnant person with an emergent medical condition for whom an abortion would prevent or alleviate a risk of death or risk to their health (including their fertility) would be inconsistent with the rights afforded to pregnant people under Article I, §§ 3, 3a, and/or 19 of the Texas Constitution and therefore would be ultra vires.

The state immediately filed a Notice of Accelerated Interlocutory Appeal which apparently has the effect under Texas law of suspending the trial court's temporary injunction pending action by the state Supreme Court. (Attorney General's press release.)  NPR reports on the decision. [Thanks to Thomas Rutledge for the lead.]

Friday, August 04, 2023

Application For Tax Exemption Does Not Violate Organization's Free Exercise Rights

In Children of the Kingdon v. Central Appraisal District of Taylor County, (TX App, Aug. 3, 2023), a Texas state appeals court affirmed a $32,000 property tax assessment against a religious organization that had not filed an application for a tax exemption. Responding to the organization's free exercise claim, the court said in part:

[W]e construe Appellants’ ... argument to be that the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment protects their religious belief to not enter into written agreements with the government; thus, they would not be required to file an application for a property tax exemption in order to not be held liable for the payment of property taxes....

Here, Appellant asserts that the requirement that one must file an application for a property tax exemption violates their rights guaranteed by the Free Exercise Clause, because it is their religious belief to be governed separately from secularism and thus not enter into any agreement or accept any privilege from secular governments. We disagree with Appellants assertion and hold that this requirement does not violate their First Amendment rights. 

First, the exemption application requirement is neutral. It is not specifically directed at or to a religious practice; instead, the requirement is a means of protecting the equality and uniformity of the property tax scheme as guaranteed by the Texas constitution. Second, the requirement is generally applicable....

Friday, July 14, 2023

Court Says HHS Used "Smurfing" To Avoid Review of Guidance To Pharmacies

In State of Texas v. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, (WD TX, July 12, 2023), a Texas federal district court refused to dismiss a challenge by the state of Texas and a pharmacy company to the Department of Health & Human Service's July 14, 2022, Guidance to Nation's Retail Pharmacies: Obligations under Federal Civil Rights Laws to Ensure Access to Comprehensive Reproductive Health Care ServicesTexas claims that the Guidance is an attempt to pre-empt Texas' abortion bans. Plaintiffs contend that the Guidance exceeds HHS's statutory authority and violates the Administrative Procedure Act. HHS alleges the plaintiffs lack standing. According to the court:

Plaintiffs’ standing in this case turns on the answer to a single question: does the Pharmacy Guidance require pharmacies to dispense drugs for abortion purposes? Defendants argue now that the Pharmacy Guidance only “addresses situations in which a pharmacy would fail to fill a prescription for non-abortion purposes.” What’s more, Defendants argue that “Texas cannot point to any language in the guidance that purports to require pharmacies to dispense drugs for abortion purposes.” Thus, in Defendants’ view, because the Pharmacy Guidance is not about abortion, it “does not conflict with, or purport to preempt, Texas laws that restrict abortion.” But that argument perfectly evidences agency smurfing—an executive branch breaking up a policy goal into silos, hoping to sever the threads that link the compartmentalized pieces to the executive’s goal....

This administration has, before and since Dobbs, openly stated its intention to operate by fiat to find non-legislative workarounds to Supreme Court dictates. This Court will not play along with such a breach of constitutional constraints.

Earlier in its opinion, the court set out at greater length its concern about "smurfing":

A recent trend among federal agencies appears to be borrowing a technique common among money launderers to avoid judicial review. The technique known as “smurfing” in the financial arena occurs when the launderer divides a large transaction—which might otherwise trigger a bank’s reporting requirements—into various smaller transactions to avoid detection....

Agency smurfing, similar to financial smurfing, occurs when the executive branch smurfs one policy goal into multiple, supposedly “unreviewable” and “unchallengeable” pieces. Consider an executive branch, who, immediately following a Supreme Court decision, seeks to achieve a policy goal contrary to the Court’s holding. The executive branch knows, however, that courts will likely view that policy goal as incompatible with the Supreme Court’s reasoning. In its efforts to avoid scrutiny, and eventual discovery of their true purpose, the executive branch breaks up the policy goal into separate, seemingly unrelated and innocent pieces—an executive order here, a press release and guidance there.

Mayo Pharmacy, a co-plaintiff, also alleged violation of its free exercise rights under RFRA. The court held that the case was brought in the wrong venue to assert that claim, and it transferred that claim to the District of North Dakota where venue lies. ADF issued a press release announcing the decision.

Wednesday, July 12, 2023

Contractor Lacks Standing to Sue Texas AG In Challenge To Anti-BDS Law

In A&R Engineering and Testing, Inc. v. Scott, (5th Cir., July 10, 2023), the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals held that a company and its Palestinian owner, both of whom boycott Israel, lack standing to sue the Texas Attorney General in a challenge to Texas' anti-Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Act. The law requires government contracts to include a clause certifying that the contractor does not and will not boycott Israel during the duration of the contract. Plaintiff wanted to renew its long-standing $1.5 million contract with the city of Houston without the anti-BDS clause in it. The court said in part:

[I]t’s unclear how A&R can trace its economic injury to the Attorney General.... Traceability is particularly difficult to show where the proffered chain of causation turns on the government’s speculative future decisions regarding whether and to what extent it will bring enforcement actions in hypothetical cases....

The court said that the anti-BDS statute does not expressly provide a way for the Attorney General to enforce it, and the Attorney General has not taken any action suggesting that he might enforce it. The court went on:

The City told the district court it would follow state law and include the provision. But the City never attributed its actions to any enforcement or threatened enforcement by the Attorney General. A&R’s injury depended on the “unfettered,” “independent” choices of the City ..., so the injury isn’t traceable to the Attorney General.... And A&R does not have standing to sue him.

(See prior related posting.) Jerusalem Post reports on the court's decision.

Wednesday, July 05, 2023

Court Strongly Criticizes Performance of Counsel for The Satanic Temple

In March 2021, The Satanic Temple and one of its members filed suit in a Texas federal district court challenging Texas' requirement that a woman have a sonogram prior to an abortion. The complaint alleged that in light of the Satanic Temple's Satanic Abortion Ritual, the Texas requirement violated plaintiffs' free exercise, substantive due process and equal protection rights. (See prior posting.) After the U.S. Supreme Court's Dobbs decision, The Satanic Temple filed a Third Amended Complaint.  In The Satanic Temple, Inc. v. Young, (SD TX, July 3, 2023), the Texas district court then dismissed the suit for lack of standing and on sovereign immunity grounds.  The court added:

Without any supporting detail, Plaintiffs assert two causes of action under the First Amendment, one being a claim swirling together the Free Speech and Free Exercise Clauses, and the other pertaining to the Establishment Clause. Young argues that these claims are so inadequately pleaded as to deprive her of fair notice as to what exactly this suit is about in the wake of Dobbs....

The court also refused to grant plaintiffs leave to replead their claims.  In doing so, the court set out an unusually strong criticism of the performance of plaintiffs' counsel, saying in part:

Given the detail of the prior complaints and these substantial changes in the law, the deficiencies in the operative complaint are no doubt intentional. And indeed, the filing of a willfully deficient amended complaint is of a piece with the mulish litigation conduct by counsel for Plaintiffs, Attorney Matt Kezhaya, in this and other actions representing The Satanic Temple. Recently considered in this regard was whether to revoke his permission to proceed pro hac vice in light of sanctions entered against him in other federal courts after his appearance here. For example, [in one of those cases:]

He ... filed a second motion for TRO containing negligible legal analysis, with six pages of the main analysis dedicated to presentation of what’s purported to be a five-act play.....

Litigation of constitutional claims is a serious matter. Such issues deserve serious attention from counsel desiring to be taken seriously. As it turns out, Plaintiffs might have been better served by proceeding pro se, as applicable standards would dictate that their filings would be “liberally construed” and “held to less stringent standards than formal pleadings drafted by lawyers.”...

And any repleading at this stage would manifest undue prejudice to a range of current and former Defendants who still have little clue as to the exact nature of the claims brought in this case. The Court is also of the firm belief that any further attempt at repleading would be futile, given that Attorney Kezhaya’s filings become more conclusory, reductive, and intemperate over time, in line with his performative and obstinate conduct to date.