Three San Antonio Councilman May Have Sunk the Justice Charter

The Texas Supreme Court just updated the case events for the Emergency Petition for Writ of Mandamus In re Maria Teresa Ramirez Morris and Texas Alliance for Life, Inc.

The petition asked the Texas Supreme Court to compel Debbie Racca-Sittre, Clerk of the City of San Antonio, and the San Antonio City Council to not certify the May 2023 Municipal Election Ballot for the “Justice Policy Charter Amendment.” 

Eric Opiela, the attorney representing Morris and Texas Alliance for Life, filed a 155-page letter brief on February 20.

Opiela writes: “In a meeting held February 16, 2023, Respondent City Council, via its consent agenda, passed the Ordinance, attached as Exhibit A to this letter, “ORDERING AN ELECTION FOR A CITY CHARTER AMENDMENT TO BE HELD ON SATURDAY, MAY 6, 2023, IN THE CITY OF SAN ANTONIO, BEXAR COUNTY, TEXAS.”  As the Ordinance was on the consent agenda, no changes were made to the Ordinance, as attached.  The Ordinance was passed by a vote of 7-0-3, with Ron Nirenberg, Jalen McKee-Rodriguez, Adriana Rocha-Garcia, Melissa Cabello Havdra, Mario Bravo, Phyllis Viagran, and Teri Castillo voting for; no members voting against; and Manny Pelaez, John Courage, and Clayton Perry “walking” before the vote, recorded as absent. See Exhibit B, “Three San Antonio council members leave meeting ahead of criminal justice reform charter vote,” San Antonio Express News, February 16, 2023.  In accordance with Article II, Section 15, of the San Antonio City Charter, and Section 14 of the Ordinance, the Ordinance is effective February 26, 2023, 69 days prior to the May 6, 2023 Municipal Election (requiring a minimum waiting period of 10 days for any ordinance to become effective when less than eight council members vote in the affirmative).  The deadline for ordering the election for May 6, 2023, was 78 days prior to the election or February 17, 2023.  See Tex. Elec. Code § 3.005(c) (requiring order 78 days in advance).”

Opiela effectively argues that the San Antonio City Council did not meet the statutory deadline for calling a May 6, 2023 election for the Justice Charter Amendment. He states the “Texas Election Code specifies February 17, 2023 as the deadline for a municipality to order an election on a measure held on the May 6, 2023 uniform election date. See Tex. Elec. Code § 3.005(c) (requiring order 78 days in advance).  While Respondent City Council voted to enact the attached ordinance on February 16, 2023, they did not do so with the necessary vote to adopt it with immediate effect, rather they adopted it effective February 26, 2023.”

Of course, the Texas Supreme Court will still consider arguments from the City of San Antonio attorneys and no decision has been made yet. However, it’s crystal clear that Dykema Gossett PLLC, the firm representing the city, was caught off guard because their sparse letter brief, also filed on February 20, argues that Morris and Texas Alliance for Life should seek court action in a post-election challenge.

In other words, the City of San Antonio was playing checkers while Opiela was playing 3-dimensional chess.

Several activists who spoke off the record now question if council members Manny Pelaez, Clayton Perry, and John Courage coordinated the construction of the chessboard.

That’s a fair question and no doubt the legal battle will continue while San Antonio citizens will end up footing the bill.

All documents related to this case may be found here: https://search.txcourts.gov/Case.aspx?cn=23-0111&coa=cossup