In a surprise decision a federal judge has just ruled in favor of the Attorney General of Texas,

and in so doing, the judge opened a pathway for other states to be able to challenge the federal government in a serious way.

Specifically, a federal judge has just ruled that the 1.7 trillion dollar government funding

bill that was passed back in December of 2022 was actually passed

unconstitutionally. Although to explain exactly why that is as well as what it

means for both Texas as well as the other states in the Union I'll need to back up for a quick moment and give you the background on this particular case.

To start with, according to Article 1, Section 5 of the U.S. Constitution,

both the House of Representatives, as well as the U.S. Senate,

they both need to have a quorum in order to conduct official business.

Here specifically what it says in the relevant part of the US Constitution.

Under Section 5, titled Powers and Dutyies of Congress, it reads,

quote, each house shall be the judge of the elections, returns and qualifications of

atoll members, and a majority of each shall constitute a quorum to do business.

In practical terms, this means that in order to conduct official government business, both the US Senate as well as the House of Representatives, they need to have at least half of their members physically present at the Capitol.

And this rule has been followed pretty much ever since its adoption

235 odd years ago.

Since the very first session of Congress met

all the way back in 1789, members of Congress

have had to be physically present in order to vote.

However, in May of 2020, this all changed.

That was when Miss Nancy Pelosi, who was at that time Speaker of the House,

she implemented a new voting rule as a response to the pandemic.

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