Texas Senate State Affairs Hearing on Texas Sovereignty Act - HB 796 - May 15, 2025

Hearing on Texas Sovereignty Act (HB 796) in Texas Senate State Affairs Committee on May 15, 2025.

Senator Bob Hall lays out the bill, then spends half an hour responding to Senator Brian Birdwell's critique of it, the core of which is that Birdwell rejects the notion that each Texas governmental official should honor his or her oath and call out the feds when, in his or her own independent judgement, the feds are violating the Constitution in Texas. Birdwell rejects the entire premise of the Texas Sovereignty Act, which is the notion that We the People of Texas are the boss, and that our representatives should honor their oaths and protect the rights of Texans from abuse by the feds. Birdwell misinterprets the supremacy clause to say that the federal judiciary is supreme in interpretation of the Constitution when it comes to their own power and that of the federal government.

The boss is the person who has the final say. Since the people of Texas are the boss in our Republic, they must have the final say over the limits of their employee, the federal government. That is what the Texas Sovereignty Act is designed to do, and that is what Birdwell rejects.