Article XVI, Section 2 of the Texas Constitution
As amended November 6, 2001:
Laws shall be made to exclude from office persons who have been convicted of bribery, perjury, forgery, or other high crimes.
Editor Comments
As adopted in 1876, this section read: "Laws shall be made to exclude from office, serving on juries, and from the right of suffrage, those who may have been or shall hereafter be convicted of bribery, perjury, forgery, or other high crimes. The privilege of free suffrage shall be protected by laws regulating elections and prohibiting under adequate penalties all undue influence therein from power, bribery, tumult, or other improper practice."
It has been amended once. The amendment moved the jury substance to Article V, Section 14, the suffrage substance to Article VI, Section 1, and the elections substance to Article VI, Section 2.
Recent Decisions
- In re Bazan, 251 S.W.3d 39, 40 (Tex. 2008) ("In this original mandamus proceeding, we must decide whether Chapter 87 of the Local Government Code forbids a district court from removing a county officer, who has been convicted of a felony, when the conviction is based on acts that occurred before the officer's election. The question arises because one section in Chapter 87 provides for the officer's immediate removal upon conviction, while another seemingly prohibits removal for acts that predate an election. We construed this statute in . . . . Because we conclude that Talamantez was wrongly decided, however, we overrule that decision and deny the present petition for writ of mandamus.")
Historic Decisions
None.
Library Resources
- Vernon's Annotated Constitution of the State of Texas (this multi-volume and up-to-date resource is available at all law libraries and many municipal libraries)
- The Texas State Constitution: A Reference Guide (this one-volume resource is available at most law libraries and some municipal libraries)
- The Constitution of the State of Texas: An Annotated and Comparative Analysis (this two-volume resource is available at most law libraries and some municipal libraries)
Online Resources
- Constitution of the State of Texas (1876) (this resource is published and maintained by the University of Texas School of Law)
- Amendments to the Texas Constitution Since 1876 (this resource is published and regularly updated by the Legislative Council)
- Reports Analyzing Proposed Amendments (this resource is published and regularly updated by the Legislative Reference Library)