A federal judge in Lubbock, Texas, ruled Tuesday that lawmakers passed a $1.7 trillion government funding bill in 2022 under pandemic-era rules that allowed U.S. House members to vote by proxy rather than in person. was ruled unconstitutional. .
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) asked the court to block a provision in the funding bill that gives pregnant workers strong legal protections.
U.S. District Judge Wesley Hendricks considered the claims and issued a “limited” judgment on one of the two provisions Paxton sought to block.
Hendricks, who was appointed by former President Trump, ruled that the Pregnant Worker Fairness Act was unfairly passed and blocked enforcement of the law against the state as an employer.
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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (right) and Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmidt speak with reporters in Washington, DC, on April 26, 2022. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
The Pregnant Worker Fairness Act, enacted in December 2022, requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to pregnant workers.
In his ruling, Hendricks noted that his injunction applied only to state government employees.
Paxton filed a lawsuit last year alleging that the federal spending package was passed unconstitutionally because more than half of the House members voted by proxy even though they were not physically present to form a quorum. Ta.
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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., watches House Democrats’ reaction to passage of the Recovery and Improvement Act at the U.S. Capitol on November 19, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
In May 2020, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi helped enact rules allowing members to vote by proxy in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
When Republicans took control of the House in 2022, they abolished the proxy rule after a failed court challenge.
In his 120-page ruling, Hendricks wrote that for more than 200 years, leading up to the introduction of the voting proxy rule, Congress had a quorum to pass a bill without actually requiring a majority of members of the House or Senate to pass it. He said he understood he needed to attend. Based on the quorum clause of the Constitution.
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Supreme Court (LR) members: Justice Amy Coney Barrett, Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Justice Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, and Samuel.・Judge A. Alito Jr. , Elena Kagan and Brett M. Kavanaugh pose in the justices’ conference room prior to Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s formal appointment ceremony, September 30, 2022, Washington, DC (U.S. Supreme Court Collection, via Getty Images)
“Supreme Court precedent has long held that the quorum clause requires attendance, and that the clause’s text distinguishes absent members from a quorum and creates a physical quorum by forcing absent members to attend. “We provide a mechanism to earn them,” he wrote.
Paxton said Congress acted “terribly” in passing the $1.7 trillion funding bill.
“Congress did a terrible job passing the largest spending bill in American history with less than half of the members in the House,” Paxton said. “Go ahead and do your job, show up and vote in person. It was also stated that less than half of the members agreed. “Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi used COVID-19 as an excuse to abuse proxy voting to pass this law, which Biden then knowingly signed into law in violation of the Constitution. This is an astonishing violation of the rule of law. “We are relieved that the court upheld the Constitution.” ”
The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Reuters reported that Texas Public Policy Foundation attorney Matthew Miller said the ruling “correctly” concluded that a physical quorum was required for voting.
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In his ruling, Hendricks also said Texas would receive $20 million appropriated in the bill to fund a pilot program to provide case management and other services to non-citizens during immigration removal proceedings. It was decided that there was no standing to raise an objection.
Reuters contributed to this report.
