AUSTIN — The Texas Public Policy Foundation filed an amicus brief asking the Texas Supreme Court to review a case involving restrictions on short-term rentals and reaffirm constitutional protections for Texas property owners.
The case raises questions about whether land-use restrictions are subject to meaningful judicial review under Article I, Section 19 of the Texas Constitution. The brief argues that recent court decisions have adopted novel interpretations of the Texas Constitution that could make it virtually impossible for property owners to successfully challenge land-use restrictions. The brief asks the Court to make clear that restrictions on the use of property are subject to at least rational basis review, regardless of when they were adopted.
TPPF’s brief also argues that courts conducting rational basis review may consider evidence rather than simply accepting a government’s claims as fact when the record points in the opposite direction. While this case concerns short-term rentals, its implications extend to land-use restrictions more broadly and the ability of Texans to challenge government restrictions on the use of their property.
Texas Public Policy Foundation is a non-profit free-market research institute based in Austin that aims to foster human flourishing by protecting and promoting liberty, opportunity, and personal responsibility. The Center for the American Future defends the Constitution through legal opposition to government overreach. The Center launches legal challenges at the administrative, district, and appellate court levels on behalf of ordinary people whose lives, liberty, and property are threatened by government action in defiance of the Constitution.
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