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The Legacy Of Johnson V. Darr: The 1925 Decision Of The All-Woman Texas Supreme Court, Jeffrey D. Dunn
The Legacy Of Johnson V. Darr: The 1925 Decision Of The All-Woman Texas Supreme Court, Jeffrey D. Dunn
St. Mary's Law Journal
The Texas Supreme Court case of Johnson v. Darr,[1] the first case decided in any state by an all-woman appellate court, was a singular event in American legal history. On January 9, 1925, three women lawyers appointed by Texas Governor Pat Neff met at the state capitol in Austin to issue rulings solely on one case involving conflicting claims to several residential properties in El Paso. The special court was appointed because the three elected justices recused themselves over a conflict of interest involving one of the litigants, a popular fraternal organization called Woodmen of the World. The special …
Revisiting The History Of The Independent State Legislature Doctrine, Hayward H. Smith
Revisiting The History Of The Independent State Legislature Doctrine, Hayward H. Smith
St. Mary's Law Journal
In hopes of legitimizing the independent state legislature doctrine, its proponents have recently made two claims with respect to history, which this Article refers to as the Substance/Procedure Thesis and the Prevailing View Thesis. The former admits that the original understanding was that state “legislatures” promulgating election law pursuant to the Elector Appointment and Elections Clauses are required to comply with state constitutionally-mandated “procedural” lawmaking requirements (such as a potential gubernatorial veto), but asserts that they were otherwise understood to be independent of “substantive” state constitutional restraints. The latter asserts that the independent state legislature doctrine was the “prevailing view” …