The Texas Supreme Court should grant review to this case, and affirm the Fourth Court of Appeals’ Opinion in order to encourage Texas courts to strike down city ordinances that conflict with Texas law. State law prohibits restrictions on the use of containers or packages. Nevertheless, cities throughout Texas are directly contradicting state law through ordinances that prohibit retailers from providing customers with single-use plastic bags, Laredo’s ordinance is a representative example. Local governments are defined and checked by the state– cities cannot regulate in areas where the Legislature has expressly and definitively removed city authority. The rule of law requires courts to enforce objective, blackletter restrictions against local governments when they exceed their scope of authority. Accordingly, the Court should grant review to encourage lower courts to strike down these misguided city ordinances.
No-Show No Go
The following commentary is published on Thursdays as part of TPPF’s subscriber-only newsletter The Post. If you would like to subscribe to The Post, click here. This week the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas sided with the novel concept that members of Congress must show up for work to do their jobs. In...