Federal judge rules $1.7 trillion spending bill passed by Congress in 2022 is unconstitutional

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A Lubbock, Texas, federal judge dominated Tuesday that lawmakers unconstitutionally passed the $1.7 trillion authorities funding bill in 2022 after they did so underneath a pandemic-era rule permitting members of the U.S. House of Representatives to vote on the matter by proxy as an alternative of in individual.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, requested the courts block a provision of the funding bill that gave pregnant employees stronger authorized protections.

U.S. District Judge Wesley Hendrix reviewed the request and issued a “limited” ruling on certainly one of two provisions Paxton sought to have blocked.

Hendrix, appointed by former President Trump, dominated the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act was wrongfully passed, blocking the legislation from being enforced in opposition to the state as an employer.

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Ken Paxton

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, proper, and Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt discuss to reporters April 26, 2022, in Washington, D.C. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, enacted in December 2022, requires employers to supply affordable lodging for pregnant employees.

In his ruling, Hendrix famous that his injunction is solely relevant to state authorities workers.

Paxton filed a lawsuit final 12 months, arguing the federal spending package deal was unconstitutionally passed as a result of over half of the House of Representatives weren’t bodily current to supply a quorum, but they nonetheless voted by proxy.

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House of representatives congress

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., appears on as House Democrats react to the passage of the Build Back Better Act on the U.S. Capitol Nov. 19, 2021, in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

In May 2020, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, helped get a rule in place permitting lawmakers to vote by proxy in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

When Republicans took management of the House in 2022, they ditched the proxy rule after difficult it in court docket unsuccessfully.

Hendrix stated in a 120-page ruling that for over 200 years main as much as the voting proxy rule’s adoption, Congress understood that almost all of members of the House or Senate have been required to be bodily current to have a quorum to move laws, as stipulated underneath the Constitution’s quorum clause.

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Supreme Court members

Members of the Supreme Court (L-R): affiliate justices Amy Coney Barrett, Neil M. Gorsuch, Sonia Sotomayor and Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., and affiliate justices Ketanji Brown Jackson, Samuel A. Alito, Jr., Elena Kagan and Brett M. Kavanaugh pose in the justices’ convention room previous to the formal investiture ceremony of Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson Sept. 30, 2022, in Washington, D.C. (Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States by way of Getty Images)

Supreme Court precedent has long held that the Quorum Clause requires presence, and the Clause’s text distinguishes those absent members from the quorum and provides a mechanism for obtaining a physical quorum by compelling absent members to attend,” he wrote.

Paxton stated Congress acted “egregiously” when it passed the $1.7 trillion funding bill.

“Congress acted egregiously by passing the largest spending bill in U.S. history with fewer than half the members of the House bothering to do their jobs, show up and vote in person,” Paxton stated. “Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi abused proxy voting under the pretext of COVID-19 to pass this law, then Biden signed it, knowing they violated the Constitution. This was a stunning violation of the rule of law. I am relieved the court upheld the Constitution.”

The Department of Justice didn’t instantly reply to Fox News Digital’s requests for remark.

Reuters reported that Texas Public Policy Foundation lawyer Matthew Miller stated the ruling “correctly” concluded a bodily quorum was required to vote.

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Hendrix additionally discovered in his ruling that Texas didn’t have standing to problem $20 million appropriated in the bill to fund a pilot program offering case administration and different providers to noncitizens throughout immigration elimination proceedings.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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