Explain in a few sentences how the two constitutions are alike and different. Be sure to identify to which you are referring.
Answers
Answer:
In many ways, the U.S. and Texas Constitutions are similar documents. They both embody the principles of representative democratic government, in which sovereignty emanates from the people. Both contain a bill of rights that protects civil liberties from government infringement… both provide for a bicameral legislature with a House of Representatives and a Senate… both seek a system of checks and balances and separation of powers between legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government… and both divide government power between upper and lower levels of government. In the U.S. Constitution, the states are subordinate to the federal government, and in the Texas Constitution, the counties are subordinate to the state government. With the U.S. Constitution, the problem with the earlier Articles of Confederation was that the government was too decentralized and not powerful enough. The U.S. Constitution was designed to overcome these weaknesses and offer a degree of centralization and increased government power. But this is precisely what the Texas Constitution was designed to reverse and avoid.
Length and Language
Whereas the U.S. Constitution is brief and vague and thus allows the federal government to broadly interpret the constitution and claim implied powers to meet specific public policy challenges, the Texas Constitution is long, detailed, and contains many statutory provisions that specify precisely what the government is allowed to do…or not do. The location of language in each document is also revealing. Whereas specific civil liberties in the U.S. Constitution are mostly listed in amendments known as the Bill of Rights, a Bill of Rights forms the very first article of the Texas Constitution.
The Executive Branch
Whereas the U.S. Constitution creates a unitary executive that concentrates executive power in the president, the Texas Constitution creates a plural executive that disperses executive power across multiple elected offices, thereby fragmenting the executive branch of government and preventing power over the executive branch from concentrating in any one individual or office. One point of interest, however, concerns the chief executive’s power to veto bills passed by the legislature. The line-item veto in the Texas Constitution allows the governor to veto specific items contained within appropriations bills passed by the legislature.
The Legislative Branch
Legislatively, there is very little in the U.S. Constitution that limits the tax and spending policies that U.S. Representatives and Senators may write into law. In Texas, however, detailed restrictions on tax and spending policies significantly restrict what state legislators are actually allowed to write into law. For example, legislators are constitutionally forbidden from implementing a tax on personal income or allowing the state government to go into debt, and the constitution mandates that specific percentages of the state budget be spent on specific policy areas, most notably for public schools and universities as stipulated in Article 7. Furthermore, the U.S. Congress is a full-time, professional legislature that meets annually; members of Congress make their living as elected officials. But the Texas legislature is a part-time, non-professional legislature that meets every two years for 140-day sessions.
The Judicial Branch
Judicially, the contrasts between the federal government and state government could not be starker. The federal judiciary is simple and orderly, with three levels of courts – district courts, appeals courts, and the U.S. Supreme Court, the final word on all statutory and constitutional matters. All federal judges are appointed, not elected, and Supreme Court justices are appointed for life, with the specific intent of removing the judiciary from the pressures of electoral politics, allowing protection of minority interests in a government system designed to allow majority rule. In contrast, the Texas judiciary is complicated and confusing. The Texas Constitution establishes six types of courts, some of which have concurrent or overlapping jurisdictions. Compared to the federal system’s one Supreme Court, the Texas Constitution establishes two high courts, one to hear civil cases and one to adjudicate criminal cases. Plus, in the tradition of Jacksonian Democracy, all Texas judges must contend with electoral politics and win their positions in partisan elections.
Amending the Texas Constitution
The Texas Constitution has been amended numerous times over its long history. While some amendments have been trivial, many others have produced major changes to the document. This activity tests your knowledge of the constitutional amendment process in Texas.