Date Filed: February 15, 2023
Original Court: U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas
Appeals: Fifth Circuit
Status: On appeal
Article I, Section 5 of the Constitution requires a quorum (majority) of House members be physically present for the U.S. House of Representatives to conduct legislative business. Two days before Christmas 2022, the House voted on a 4,000-page, $2 trillion omnibus appropriations bill. Less than half of the Representatives were present, with the rest voting by proxy. Of those present, 88 Representatives voted yea and 113 voted nay. Still, the legislation passed, and the President signed it into law. This was not merely a procedural error; it goes to the heart of our Representatives’ job duties.
Prompted by this blatant disregard for the Constitution, CAF represented the State of Texas in a lawsuit challenging two provisions in this massive bill: the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act and an appropriation to fund the Alternatives to Detention program. The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act imposes costly requirements on all employers, including state governments. The Act also abrogates states’ sovereign immunity under the Eleventh Amendment. The Alternatives to Detention program permits releasing illegal aliens into the country based on their mere promise to appear at a future immigration court proceeding.
Texas secured a victory when the district court entered a permanent injunction preventing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act from applying to the state as an employer. But the district court dismissed for lack of standing Texas’s challenge to the Alternatives to Detention appropriation. The federal government appealed this decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Case Documents:
Motion for Preliminary Injunction
Combined Response to Motion for Preliminary Injunction and Brief Supporting Motion to Dismiss