Article I, Section 37 of the Texas Constitution ("Parents' Responsibilities and Rights")
Added November 4, 2025:
To enshrine truths that are deeply rooted in this nation's history and traditions, the people of Texas hereby affirm that a parent has the responsibility to nurture and protect the parent's child and the corresponding fundamental right to exercise care, custody, and control of the parent's child, including the right to make decisions concerning the child's upbringing.
Editor Comments
According to available legislative history, the purpose of this section is to codify parents' existing federal constitutional rights in the state constitution.
Recent Decisions
- State v. Loe, 692 S.W.3d 215, 230-31 (Tex. 2024) ("But neither our society's history and legal traditions nor this Court's precedents support a view of the scope of parents' constitutionally protected interest in directing their children's care, custody, and control that would place any action a parent may undertake outside the government's authority to regulate. . . . [A] fit parent's fundamental interest in caring for her child free from government interference extends to choosing from among legally available medical treatments, but it never has been understood to permit a parent to demand medical treatment that is not legally available.")
Historic Decisions
- Holick v. Smith, 685 S.W.2d 18, 20 (Tex. 1985) (citations omitted) ("This natural parental right has been characterized as 'essential,' 'a basic civil right of man,' and 'far more precious than property rights.' A termination decree is complete, final, irrevocable and divests for all time that natural right as well as all legal rights, privileges, duties and powers . . . . [T]he evidence in support of termination must be clear and convincing before a court may involuntarily terminate a parent's rights. Consequently, termination proceedings should be strictly scrutinized, and involuntary termination statutes are strictly construed in favor of the parent.")
- Byrne v. Love, 14 Tex. 81, 91-92 (1855) ("There is no doubt a guardian, and especially a father acting as guardian by nature, has very ample authority in the control, management, rearing and education of his children; that he may lease their lands until his death or until they arrive at the age of majority; that he may place them for years under the superintendence and control of others, and where such act is not so injurious to the infant as to require the interposition of the Court, it cannot be disputed . . . . All this he may do in perfect consistency with his right of guardianship, and his ultimate liability for the proceeds of the minor's property.")
Library Resources
- Vernon's Annotated Constitution of the State of Texas (multi-volume and up-to-date resource available at all law and many municipal libraries)
- The Texas State Constitution: A Reference Guide (one-volume resource available at most law and some municipal libraries)
- The Constitution of the State of Texas: An Annotated and Comparative Analysis (two-volume resource available at most law and some municipal libraries)
Online Resources
- Constitution of the State of Texas (1876) (resource published online and maintained by the University of Texas School of Law)
- Amendments to the Texas Constitution Since 1876 (resource published online and regularly updated by the Legislative Council)
- Reports Analyzing Proposed Amendments (resource published online and regularly updated by the Legislative Reference Library)