A friend sent me an email she received from the Jimmy Blacklock campaign. There were two of his recent opinions discussed. One of them, I feel, shows his judicial philosophy and how it aligns with conservative values and the literal interpretation of legal documents including the Texas Constitution.
Justice Blacklock wrote an opinion with Justice Devine concurring relating to the direct appeal to the Supreme Court State of Texas et al v. Lazaro Loe et al. The Court voted 8-1 (its opinion can be found here) reversing a temporary injunction ordered by the 201st District Court in Travis County to stop the implementation of SB14 (prohibition on the provision to certain children of procedures and treatments for gender transitioning, gender reassignment, or gender dysphoria …) while merits of the case went through the system.
What follows is my summary of Blacklock’s opinion. Please read it for yourself and make your own conclusion.
In his opinion, Justice Blacklock discusses the Traditional Vision versus the Transgender Vision. The Traditional Vision, in this case, is that a boy is a boy and a girl is a girl – females and males do not identify as their sexes, they are their sexes. The Transgender Vision is that we are assigned a sex at birth determined by physical traits which may or may not be how we feel inside. When these two do not match, the gender identity is given preference which then requires the outside be changed to match the inside.
Until recently, the Traditional Vision was the only Vision according to Blacklock. Blacklock states this is a moral and political judgement, not scientific and medical. He further states the answer to which vision is correct is that “[a]ll political power is inherent in the people” (TEX. CONST. Article I Section 2). The people, through their elected representatives said, in essence, the Traditional is correct for the people of Texas.
Looking at this another way – Article I Section Two of the Texas Constitution was written in 1876 when the Traditional Vision was the only Vision. The will of the people, through their elected representatives, aligns with the Texas Constitution of 1876. Therefore, SB14 is constitutional and the temporary injunction should be vacated. To me, the opinion is an incredible example of Justice Blacklock’s view of the law. Please read this opinion. Do not take my writing on this. Justice Blacklock discusses the moral and political questions of SB14 with respect to the law as and when it was written.
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