My belief is that Texas knows it's impossible to actually enforce these laws, so they're ofsetting the responsibility to citizens. Instead of "See something, say something" it's "see something, sue someone", which perfectly represents some parts of American legal culture.
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There’s no standing otherwise. So no legal grounds to bring a lawsuit - this allows them to push it onto citizens (read: billionaire activists)
It's about taking the state out of the process. If citizens are suing each other, it's an entirely civil matter that keeps Texas from having to go to court against another state. SCOTUS has original jurisdiction (i.e. the case goes straight to SCOTUS instead of working through the lower courts) for disputes between states, and this is NOT something the conservatives want going to SCOTUS.
Either they lose, or they win and set some precedents they do NOT want. Imagine California being able to go after Winchester when a California resident buys ammo in Nevada.
we're still pretending like precedent matters? cute
common law is a joke, "precedent" is just shit some inbred english aristocrats came up with to corrupt roman/civil law, in a bid to hold onto their waning power
Texas knows it’s impossible to actually enforce these laws
It isn't impossible. But by commodifying the act of enforcement they can effectively send kick backs to their private sector allies.
This isn't a system for finding and punishing violators, it's a system for shaking down "liberal" business interests and extorting them via civil courts.
The only citizens who get to play this game are those that already signed up for TPUSA or joined the Heritage Foundation or Federalist Society or are otherwise a foot soldier in the culture wars
Those of us in legal states should just start mailing them pills to the governor's house in TX. Good luck prosecuting everyone.
Use his address as the return address. Drop them off at postal boxes/ post offices so they can't be traced back to the sender.
That's the thing, though. The entire purpose of this bill is to make it so they don't have to prosecute anyone.
They're turning it into a civil suit, not a criminal one.
Yup. It’s crowdfunding the prosecution, by allowing anyone to bring civil lawsuits.
It also keeps it out of the criminal courts, because Texas specifically doesn’t want one state’s shield laws to try protecting someone from another state’s criminal prosecution. If that happens, the case would go straight to the SCOTUS because they have original jurisdiction in state-vs-state cases. And conservatives specifically don’t want a ruling like this to go in their favor, because it would open the floodgates for liberal states to criminally prosecute conservatives whenever they do something.
For instance, imagine California being able to prosecute an oil company for causing asthma because emissions blow across state lines. Being able to prosecute a gun manufacturer whenever a school shooting happens with weapons that were purchased legally in other states. Being able to prosecute a car manufacturer whenever a crash happens with an out-of-state driver. Texas specifically doesn’t want liberal states to be able to do this, so they want to avoid setting any kind of precedent with the SCOTUS.
Women who are capable of conceiving should leave that state if at all possible. If not possible, then become celibate.
"Witch! Witch! Burn them at the stake!"
Are they just attempting to throw the concept of “standing” clear out the window?
The supreme court gave Texas a blank check to ignore the law. Unsurprisingly they have continued to abuse it.
Texas republiQans are special. Super ignorant, pretty damn racist, not that smart, crazy about a bonkers religion. But, like, more than other republiQans.
We really need to go back to minding everyone's privacy, and standing in our own lane.