Barbara Ann Radnofsky, 2010 Democratic Texas Attorney General candidate, recently made national news and was #1 Best Person In The World according to Keith Olbermann because of her legal analysis of the 2005 Texas Marriage Amendement.
The story grew legs and got the country talking about the implications. Barbara Ann wrote a follow up piece for the Huffington Post.
Barbara Ann explains why the clarity of the amendment causes so many problems.
In our justice system, when language is clear, the courts are not permitted to go behind the clear language to consider intent.
Republicans scream about judicial activism and throw around phrases like "legislating from the bench". Now it seems that those very same Republicans are encouraging massive judicial activism.
The Attorney General seeks more than judicial activism, more than judicial legislation from the bench. The Texas Attorney General now puts in to the hands of Texas state court judges the job of rewriting the Texas Constitution.
This is just one instance of bad lawyering and how it can impact our everyday lives. Barbara Ann will be campaigning on the need to restore sound legal judgment to the office of the Attorney General of Texas - the People's Lawyer. There are many examples of the Texas AG making bad legal calls in order to advance a political agenda including Tom Delay's mid decade redistricting which was enabled by a Texas AG opinion.