PSCI 1040 1nd Edition Lecture 4 Outline of Last Lecture I Federalism II Debate III Federalism Requires IV Reasons V Cooperative Federalism VI Fiscal Federalism VII Supreme Court Shifts in Perspective Outline of Current Lecture I Texas Constitution II Well Constructed Constitution III 7 Texas Constitutions IV Constitutional Convention of 1875 V Characteristics and Principles VI 3 Branches VII Amendments Current Lecture I II A well Constructed Constitution should Be brief The simplicity has allowed it to remain for over 250 years 1 Ex Search and seizure was never meant to apply to cell phone records but because it s so vague in the constitution it applies Grant authority to specific institutions Provide orderly change So there s no riots or anything Constitutionalism Two forms of constitutional change Fundamental constitutional revision 1 Scrape it and start all over Accumulation of piecemeal change 1 Keep adding provisions to change it The Seven Texas Constitutions 1827 Constitution of Coahulla y Tejas 1836 Constitution of the Republic These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute 1845 Constitution of 1845 1861 Civil War Constitutional part of the confederacy 1866 Constitution of 1866 to be reinstated into the Union 1869 Reconstruction Constitution let the federal government take over Radical Reconstructionists took over 1876 Texas Constitution came out of reconstruction during reconstruction Texas learned to hate the federal government a lot of their rights were taken away during Reconstruction III Constitutional Convention of 1875 Reaction to the Radical Republicans Majority of the delegates were Democrats Wanted to restore the old southern ways to Texas after reconstruction Texas Constitution of 1876 Created weak decentralized government Limited power of the branches of government Expanded local government power Idea of the anti federalist to have small decentralized governments IV Characteristics of the Texas Constitution Extremely long and detailed Don t do things by statues do things by constitutional amendments for whatever reason Confusing in organization You add these amendments as they come up so there s no real categorical organization One provision can cancel out another provision so if you wanted to know what it canceled out you d have to find the old one in the earlier Poorly written They meet every other year which doesn t leave a lot of time to grammar check Restrictive Because of all the amendments it became extremely restrictive which is the opposite of what the founding fathers envisioned Principles of the Texas Cons Similar to the National Constitution Popular Sovereignty People control their government and governments are subject to limits and constraints Social Contract Theory Legitimacy of the state based on obligations and responsibilities that individuals and the state have toward each other Limited government Bill of Rights Was the first thing in the constitution as opposed to the national constitution Located at the beginning of Article I Similar to those protected in the US Bill of Rights Meant to protect Texans from the federal and state governments V VI VII Reacting to the Reconstruction era they wanted to protect its citizens from government control 3 Branches Legislative o Article III o Bicameral legislature with House and Senate o Nonprofessional legislature Most of the members of the legislature have other jobs Pay them very little to do the job so they have to have other jobs that are very flexible o Constitution is very specific about bills amendments and procedures which limits legislative powers Even if they aren t done after 180 days it doesn t matter They have to stop meeting unless given permission to meet by the governor Executive o Article IV o Governor is the Chief Executive Veto power o Plural Executive Power is dispersed among separately elected governor lieutenant governor attorney general comptroller etc This means that Texas governors are not strong Judicial Branch o Article V o Six different types of courts This is ridiculous Nobody even knows where to go most of the time o Judges are all elected More sensitive to public opinion than federal judges o Dispersed power of the courts A high civil court Texas Supreme Court The final decision maker for Civil Cases A high criminal court Court of Criminal Appeals The final decision maker for Criminal Cases Only Texas and Oklahoma does this Amendments Amendments beget Amendments Proposal 2 3 s of all members elected in each chamber Ratification a simple majority of votes Texas constitution in Comparative Perspective US Constitution 7 000 words and amended only 27 times flexible document Texas Constitution 90 000 words and is continually amended restrictive document compilation of detailed statutory provisions