Mother Jones
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Update, 5:22 PM EDT: A spokeswoman for Gov. Perry confirmed to Mother Jones that he has called a special session that will begin on July 1. Perry said in a statement, “I am calling the Legislature back into session because too much important work remains undone for the people of Texas. Through their duly elected representatives, the citizens of our state have made crystal clear their priorities for our great state. Texans value life and want to protect women and the unborn.”
Donning pink tennis shoes, Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis (D-Forth Worth) waged an almost 11-hour filibuster Tuesday to thwart a GOP-backed bill that would have shuttered most of the abortion clinics across Texas. The bill was killed, despite efforts by Texas Republicans to throw the rule book at Davis for adjusting her back brace. GOPers also staged a vote approving the bill minutes after deadline, but the vote was too late and didn’t count. But Republicans are not accepting defeat, and an expert on Texas electoral law says the state’s GOPers know that Texas Gov. Rick Perry still has an opportunity to put an identical anti-abortion bill to the floor, in another special session that could be held any time. If that happens, even a state senator as heroic and unwilling to sit down as Davis might not be able to stop the bill from passing.
Mark Jones, a political science professor at Rice University, says, “Republican Senate leaders realized they were on very shaky legal ground” when they declared victory on Senate Bill 5 a couple minutes after midnight—going so far as to change the time stamp on the Legislature’s official web page. “The practical route for them to follow is recognize defeat here, and focus on getting identical legislation passed in the second special session where time will not be an issue like in the first…Davis would need to filibuster for two weeks.”
Originally posted here:
Here’s How Texas Republicans Will Crush the Wendy Davis Abortion Filibuster
